THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


I 


1830. 


j4-^^sv°L^-'<^- 


H.    U. 


MEMOIRS. 


BOSTON: 

Press  of  Rockwell  and  Churchill,  39  Arch  Street. 

1886. 


214-1 

\iho 


Survivors  of  the  Class  of  1830,  H.  U.,  appointed  the 
undersigned  a  committee  to  cause  memoirs  of  classmates 
passed  away  to  be  prepared  and  printed  for  private  dis- 
tribution. 

They  desire  to  express  their  thanks  to  the  writers  of 
the    following    memoirs,    kindly    contributed. 

JOHN    O.    SARGENT, 
JAMES    DANA, 
THOMAS   C.   AMORY. 

May,  18S6. 


550216 


INDEX. 


Andrews,  William 6 

Andrews,  Benjamin  Halsey 22 

Babcock,  Samuel  Brazer 73 

Benjamin,  James 32 

Browne,  John  White 45 

Bryant,  John 19 

Carter,  Henry  Wadsworth 83 

Coffin,  Henry  Rice 91 

Eaton,  Levi  Curtis 30 

Emery,  Samuel  Moody 121 

Eustis,  William 13 

Eustis,  Horatio  Sprague 41 

Foster,  George  James 86 

Frost,  Barzillai 39 

Hooper,  Robert  William 143 

Hopkinson,  Thomas 36 

Jenks,  Richard  Pulling 71 

Jewett,  Isaac  Appleton 28 

Kerr,  John  Bozman 89 

Lincoln,  Henry 42 

Lyman,  Joseph 68 

McBurney,  Samuel 24 


INDEX 

Odin,  John 

Patterson,  Albert  Clarke 

Penniman,  William     . 

Pickering,  John 

Pitts,  Samuel 

Potter,  Elisha  Reynolds 

Sargent,  Henry  Winthrop 

Sawyer,  Franklin 

Snow,  Theodore  William 

Stuart,  Charles 

Sumner,  Charles 

Walker,  Henry  Augustus 

Warren,  George  Washington 

Welles,  Benjamin  Pratt  . 

Williams,  Joseph  Barney 

Worcester,  Samuel  Thomas 


63 
75 
5 
94 
65 
98 
106 
26 
60 

93 
78 

7 

128 

10 

3i 
112 


WILLIAM  PENNIMAN. 
1S10 —  i8j2. 


BY    HIS    KINSMAN,   MOSES   WILLIAMS,    OF   BROOKLINE. 


WILLIAM    PENNIMAN,  who  graduated  from  Harvard 
College,  in  the  class  of  1830,  was  the  son  of  Elisha  and 
Sybil  (Allen)  Penniman,  and  was  born  in  Boston,  June 
19,  1810. 

As  a  child  he  was  of  a  sensitive  and  affectionate  disposition, 
showing  an  unusual  consideration  for  his  younger  brothers  and 
sisters.  His  physique  was  always  rather  delicate,  and  his  tastes 
rather  studious  than  athletic. 

The  same  characteristics  seem  to  have  marked  his  college 
life ;  the  increasing  feebleness  of  his  frame  made  him  rather 
shy  and  thoughtful,  although  it  did  not  prevent  him  from  attain- 
ing respectable  rank  as  a  scholar,  and,  while  he  commanded  the 
respect  of  his  classmates,  he  was  not  well  enough  to  enter  very 
fully  into  their  sports  and  pleasures. 

He  received  the  honor  of  a  part  at  one  of  the  exhibitions 
during  his  college  course,  and  had  also  a  part  in  the  Commence- 
ment exercises  of  his  class. 

After  his  graduation  he  turned  his  thoughts  toward  the  profes- 
sion of  the  ministry ;  but  his  health  soon  began  to  fail,  and  he 
died,  of  consumption,  on  February  13,  1832,  his  decease  having 
possibly  been  hastened  by  the  death  of  his  father,  which  had 
happened  only  three  months  before. 

William  Penniman  was  one  of  a  family  of  thirteen  children,  of 
whom  at  this  time  (1884)  but  two  survive. 


WILLIAM    ANDREWS. 

18 1 0  —  1838. 


BY   HIS   BROTHER,  SAMUEL    P.  ANDREWS,  OF   SALEM. 


WILLIAM  ANDREWS,  second  son  of  John  Hancock 
and  Nancy  (Page)  Andrews,  was  born  at  Salem,  Mass., 
June  1,  1 8 10,  and  was  fitted  for  college,  partly  at  the 
private  school  of  John  Walsh  (son  of  the  author  of  "  Walsh's 
Arithmetic,"  of  which  you  may  have  a  lively  remembrance), 
and  partly  at  the  Public  Latin  School  in  Salem.  He  entered 
Harvard  University  as  Freshman,  obtained  a  fair  rank  in  his 
class,  and  graduated  in  due  course  in  1830.  From  the  Uni- 
versity he  passed  immediately  into  the  Divinity  School  in 
Cambridge,  took  the  entire  course  of  three  years  of  preparatory 
study,  and,  after  leaving  "the  school"  and  preaching  for  a  short 
while  in  various  places,  was  invited  to  settle  as  pastor  over  the 
Unitarian  church  at  Chelmsford,  in  this  State.  In  this  parish  he 
passed  a  quiet,  useful,  and  acceptable  life,  greatly  loved  by  his 
people  and  respected  by  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  until 
November  18,  1838,  when  he  died  of  a  brain  fever,  leaving  no 
line  which  he  could  wish  to  blot,  and  no  enemy  with  whom  he 
need  be  reconciled. 

He  was  never  married. 

This  is  a  very  meagre  account  of  a  quiet  and  unobtrusive 
life  in  which  many  were  interested. 


HENRY   AUGUSTUS   WALKER. 
i8op—  1838. 


BY   HIS    FRIEND,    REV.    SAMUEL   A.  DEVENS,    OF   BOSTON. 


HENRY  AUGUSTUS  WALKER  was  born* in  Charles- 
town,  Mass.,  November  22,  1809.  He  was  fitted  for 
college  at  Phillips  Academy,  Exeter.  In  college  he  was 
gentle  and  modest,  devoted  to  his  studies,  just  in  his  judg- 
ment of  persons  and  opinions,  and  possessed  of  deep  moral 
and  religious  principle.  His  diffidence  prevented  intimate  in- 
tercourse with  classmates,  but  he  stood  well  with  them,  and 
graduated  with  a  respectable  rank.  The  temper  of  his  mind 
was  always  serious,  and  he  chose  with  readiness  the  profession 
of  divinity,  pursuing  his  studies  at  Harvard  Divinity  School, 
graduating  in  1833. 

In  company  with  his  friend,  Rev.  Samuel  A.  Devens,  of 
Charlestown,  he  made  a  tour  of  the  several  States  of  our  Union. 
He  then  went  abroad,  travelling  in  England,  Scotland,  and 
France,  remaining  for  some  time,  pursuing  his  studies,  at  the 
University  in  Berlin,  Germany. 

He  turned  his  travels  to  good  account,  and  could  describe 
with  vividness  what  he  had  seen,  learned,  or  heard ;  having 
accurately  observed  the  characteristics  of  the  nations  where  he 
travelled. 

After  his  return  he  entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  profession, 
leaving  a  favorable  impression  of  his  character  and  capacity 
wherever  he  labored.  His  health  soon  rapidly  failed,  and  he 
sailed  for  Santa  Cruz,  and  arrived  at  #that  island,  Wednesday, 
Feb.  14,  1838.     The  warmth  of  the  climate  prostrated  his  little 


8  IN  MEMORIAM. 

remaining  strength,  and  he  passed  away  the  following  Saturday. 
He  received  tender  care  and  judicious'  treatment.  The  funeral 
service  was  held  in  the  Episcopal  church,  and  a  procession 
of  Americans,  and  some  of  the  residents,  followed  the 
coffin  to  the  resting-place  of  the  remains,  in  the  cemetery 
on   the   island. 

Mr.  Walker  was  a  man  of  a  singularly  clear  and  discrimi- 
nating mind,  of  great  candor,  justice,  and  sincerity.  As  a 
scholar  he  was  correct  and  indefatigable.  He  loved  study 
because  he  loved  truth.  He  sought  for  it  as  the  pearl  of  great 
price.  As  a  friend  he  was  faithful  and  firm.  No  one  had 
occasion  to  question  the  warmth  of  his  affections,  or  their  truth 
and  permanency.  His  conscience  was  quick  and  active.  His 
feelings  were  tender  and  delicate.  Though  embarrassingly 
timid  he  was  a  courageous  advocate  of  truth  and  rectitude. 
His  temperament  was  calm,  dispassionate,  philosophic. 


TRIBUTE   TO    HENRY   AUGUSTUS   WALKER. 


WRITER    UNKNOWN. 


We  cannot  allow  his  familiar  and  beloved  name  to  be 
entered  in  the  common  record  of  mortality  without  paying 
a  simple  and  affectionate  tribute  to  the  character  for 
whose  sake  it  is  everlastingly  engraven  on  our  heart.  Our 
classmate  at  the  Divinity  School  was  a  companion,  a  friend, 
a  brother.  And,  now  that  he  has  gone  where  praise  cannot 
disturb  him,  we  take  peculiar  pleasure  in  speaking  freely  of 
the  many  virtues  which,  in  his  lifetime,  were  concealed  from 
the  public  eye  by  that  charming  and  singular  modesty  of  his, 
which  he  wore  as  a  delicate  veil,  except  in  the  presence  of 
his  friends.  His  was  no  common  mind,  and  he  took  delight 
in    the    gravest    studies.       His    taste    was    pure    and    elevated; 


HEXRY  AUGUSTUS    WALKER.  9 

his  discrimination  accurate ;  his  judgment  unusually  sound 
and  mature;  and  in  wisdom  he  was  early  old.  His  was 
no  ordinary  heart.  His  affections  were  warm,  his  attachments 
singularly  strong  and  true.  No  man,  at  all  times,  extended  a 
more  hearty  welcome  to  a  friend.  None  grasped  the  hand  more 
emphatically.  None  afforded  more  sincere  and  unostentatious 
sympathy.  None  performed  the  best  but  most  difficult  office 
of  a  friend  more  gently  and  faithfully.  He  was  humane,  for- 
giving, and  hopeful  of  man.  But  a  little  fact,  that  comes  up 
while  we  arc  writing,  will  throw  more  light  upon  his  heart  than 
all  our  words.  One  of  the  last  times  we  saw  him  we  were 
speaking  of  his  pale  and  sunken  cheek,  and  of  the  benefits  and 
pleasures  of  sickness.  "  The  greatest  happiness  I  feel,"  said  he, 
"  while  I  am  wasting  away,  is  found  in  looking  upon  my  friends 
who  are  in  health,  and  the  children  I  pass  in  the  streets,  with 
their  ruddy  faces,  because  I  can  now  have  a  full  and  exquisite 
relish  of  what  they  are  enjoying."  His  principles  were  sound ; 
his  moral  sense  was  quick  and  delicate.  With  great  humility 
he  was  one  of  the  boldest  advocates  and  approvers  of  the  right, 
—  one  of  the  sternest  foes  and  rebukers  of  the  wrong, —  and, 
withal,  an  unusual  spirituality  sanctified  his  virtues.  With  such 
a  moral  foundation  for  a  useful  and  happy  life  were  coupled  a 
weak  constitution  and  a  delicate  physical  frame.  After  leaving 
the  Divinity  School  he  spent  two  years  in  Europe,  in  travel  and 
study,  with  great  benefit  to  the  intellect,  but,  unfortunately,  with 
little  improvement  of  the  health.  On  his  return  to  Boston  he 
preached  occasionally,  and  with  great  acceptance  to  his  hearers, 
though  debility  prevented  that  forcible  delivery,  which  was  all 
he  lacked  to  make  him  an  eminent  and  popular  preacher. 
As  his  health  gradually  declined  he  was  recommended  to  visit 
a  milder  clime,  only,  as  it  has  proved,  to  breathe  out  his  noble 
spirit  amongst  fairer  flowers  and  under  softer  skies  in  the  place 
of  the  sweeter  smiles  of  kindred  and  the  dearer  roof  of  home. 
But  the  home  of  such  as  he  is  wherever  the  peaceful  and  sus- 
taining influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit  can  descend  to  console  and 
deliver  a  child  of  God,  in  the  mortal  agony,  or  angels  can  wait 
to  carry  the  enfranchised  soul  of  the  uncomplaining  sufferer  to 
the  Saviour's  bosom. 


BENJAMIN   P.  WELLES. 

1809  —  i8j.o. 


BY   HIS    CLASSMATE,   JOHN    O.    SARGENT,    OF   NEW   YORK. 


BENJAMIN  PRATT  WELLES,  born  in  Boston  in  1809, 
was  the  eighth  child  of  John  and  Abigail  Welles,  of  that 
city.  He  received  his  early  instruction  at  the  Public  Latin 
School,  in  Boston,  chiefly  under  the  immediate  charge  of  Mr. 
Benjamin  A.  Gould,  then  the  principal  of  that  seminary,  and  of 
Mr.  Frederick  P.  Leverett,  both  of  whom  are  now  kindly  re- 
membered by  their  surviving  pupils  for  the  thorough  and 
conscientious  discharge  of  their  duties.  Benjamin  was  a 
good  scholar,  *  and  was  especially  marked  for  the  interest  he 
manifested  in  the  study  of  Greek,  in  which  he  easily  led  all  the 
fellow-students  in  his  division.  He  entered  Harvard  College  in 
1826,  maintaining  a  respectable  standing  in  the  class,  and,  after 
graduating,  passed  some  time  in  Europe,  and  visited  his  uncle 
(on  the  mother's  side),  Mr.  Samuel  Welles,  the  eminent  Ameri- 
can banker,  in  Paris,  where  he  enjoyed  excellent  opportunities 
of  extending  his  acquaintance  with  intelligent  and  educated 
Americans  from  various  parts  of  the  United  States,  for  whom 
the  office  and  house  of  Mr.  Welles  were  for  many  years  the 
Parisian  head-quarters. 

On  his  return  to  Boston  he  entered  the  house  of  John 
&  Benjamin  Welles,  then  doing  a  business,  banking  and 
exchange,  with  the  Paris  and  Havre  houses  of  Welles  &  Co. 
In  this  connection  he  remained  until  he  died,  —  unmarried, — 
in    1840. 

It  is  much  to  say  of  any  one,  —  and  it  is  true  of  Mr.  Welles, 


BENJAMIN   P.    WELLES.  11 

—  that  he  was  a  warm  friend,  an  amiable  companion,   and  a 
punctilious    gentleman. 

In  his  disposition  he  was  eminently  social.  His  taste  for 
theatrical  entertainments  was  highly  cultivated,  and  he  was  sel- 
dom absent  from  the  Federal  street  and  the  old  Tremont  thea- 
tres on  the  appearance  of  any  distinguished  actor,  or  the  pro- 
duction of  any  meritorious  novelty.  This  inclination  led  him, 
in  his  school  days,  to  interest  himself  in  forming  a  club  of  boys 
that  met  at  private  houses,  for  the  production  of  acts  and  scenes 
from  the  standard  drama,  tragic  or  farcical.  Under  the  tuition 
ot  Mr.  Turner,  a  successful  teacher  of  elocution  at  that  period, 
portions  of  Shakspere's  "  Julius  Caesar  "  were  brought  out  in  the 
spacious  circular  dining-room  of  Mr.  John  Welles,  when  the 
butler's  pantries  were  converted  into  dressing-rooms,  and  the 
drugget  served  as  an  extemporized  curtain.  These  were  fol- 
lowed by  specimens  after  Sylvester  Daggerwood,  or  scenes  from 
"  Love  laughs  at  Locksmiths," — winding  up  with  one  of  those 
delightful  suppers  for  actors  and  audience  for  which  the  old 
mansion  in  Summer  street  was  famous  for  nearly  half  a  century. 

Actors  and  audience  have  passed  away  leaving  but  two  or 
three  survivors ;  and  even  they  would  find  it  difficult  in  the 
business  blocks  of  the  neighborhood  to  point  out  the  precise 
spot  which  was  the  centre  of  so  much  social  interest  as  were  the 
mansions  so  long  occupied  by  the  Welleses  and  Grays. 

The  name  of  Welles  has  been  long  and  honorably  associated 
with  Harvard  College.  Mr.  John  Welles,  the  father  of  our 
subject,  was  a  graduate  of  the  class  of  1782.  His  life  was  one 
of  usefulness  and  honor,  and  he  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  en- 
joying the  esteem  and  respect  of  all  who  knew  him.  He  was 
a  descendant,  in  the  sixth  generation,  from  Governor  Thomas 
Welles,  of  Connecticut.  Samuel  Welles,  of  the  fifth  generation, 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1744,  and  his  brother,  Arnold, 
in  the  following  year.  At  a  time  when  the  college  catalogue 
was  arranged  with  regard  to  what  was  supposed  to  be  some 
family  criterion,  or  the  social  rank  of  the  parents,  Samuel 
Welles  and  Arnold  Welles  were  placed  first  in  the  lists  of  their 
respective  classes.  This  was  perhaps  a  well-deserved  recogni- 
tion of  the  worth  of  the  father,  who  was  a  native  of  Connecticut 


12  IN  MEMORIAM. 

and  a  graduate  of  Yale,  but  removed  to  Boston,  on  his  marriage 
with  Miss  Arnold,  in  17 19.  He  held  various  public  offices, 
judicial  and  political,  and,  though  a  Whig  in  principle,  was  for 
many  years  one  of  His  Majesty's  Council  for  the  colony.  He 
died  in  1770.  The  last  Quinquennial  Catalogue  contains  the 
names  of  twenty-six  of  his  descendants  who  have  graduated  at 
the  University,  eleven  bearing  the  name  of  Welles,  six  that  of 
Hunnewell.  To  these  may  be  added  one  Lovering,  two  Taylors, 
three  Sargents,  and  three  Sturgises. 

It  may  certainly  be  said  of  the  member  of  His  Majesty's 
Council  that  he  has  made  ample  return,  in  this  long  line  of 
graduates,  for  the  compliments  of  the  College. 


WILLIAM    EUSTIS. 
1810  — 184.3. 


BY   THOMAS    C.    AMORY,    OF   BOSTON. 


THE  time  draws  near  for  printing  the  memoirs  of  our 
deceased  classmates.  These  memoirs  have  been  prepared 
by  friends  and  kinsfolk,  under  the  assurance  and  in  the 
full  expectation  that  this  work  would  have  been  long  since 
accomplished.  There  still  remains  one  gap  in  our  necrology 
to  be  filled  before  we  can  proceed  to  press.  That  of  William 
Eustis  is  wanting. 

All  of  us  remembered  him  with  respect,  many  with  affection. 
He  passed  away  more  than  forty  years  ago,  and  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  brief  line  in  the  class-book,  that  he  had  belonged 
to  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and  Hasty  Pudding,  no  material  seemed 
to  have  survived  out  of  which  to  weave  the  story  of  his  life. 
Letters  addressed  to  Cambridge  and  Washington  and  to  his 
surviving  classmates  elicited  no  information,  and  though  loath 
to  pass  him  by  without  recognition  of  his  claims  to  remembrance, 
there  seemed  no  alternative. 

By  inquiry  at  Brookline,  where  it  is  believed  he  was  born, 
and  where  he  is  known  to  have  resided  from  his  earliest  boy- 
hood, we  discovered  that  friends  who  had  known  him  well  were 
still  living,  and,  upon  referring  to  them,  they  responded  with 
promptitude  to  our  inquiries. 

For  what  we  have  to  tell  of  his  life  we  mainly  depend  upon 
their  communications,  and  propose  to  incorporate  in  our  memoir 
as  much  of  their  account  of  him  as  our  limits  permit.  With 
our  own  recollection  of   him,   his   slender   frame,   his  studious 


14  IN  MEMORIAM. 

habits,  absorbed  look,  "  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of 
thought,"  his  amiable  disposition,  more  demonstrative  in  manner 
and  expression  than  in  words,  a  prepossessing  countenance,  staid 
and  contemplative,  marked  with  modest  diffidence  and  un- 
mistakable sincerity,  which  rarely  beamed  with  delight  or  broke 
into  hilarity,  the  account  given  of  him  by  our  correspondent,  who 
knew  him  later,  corresponds.  We  learn  why  it  was  that  he  was 
so  generally  regarded  with  affectionate  respect  by  his  college 
associates,  and  why  from  want  of  constitutional  vigor  his  career 
was  so  comparatively  unsuccessful  and  so  prematurely  closed. 

The  home  of  his  childhood,  if  not  of  his  birth,  extended  along 
the  south  side  of  Warren  street,  in  Brookline,  still,  as  then,  one 
of  the  most  lovely  drives  near  Boston.  Climbing  the  hill  about 
a  mile  from  what  was  then  the  Punch-Bowl  Village,  so  called 
from  the  sign  on  Gerry's  Tavern,  near  the  end  of  the  Milldam, 
we  reach  the  rising  ground  where  stood,  the  old  meeting-house, 
of  which  Dr.  Pierce  for  half  a  century  was  pastor.  Just  beyond 
the  more  modern  edifice  on  its  site  stood  the  home  of  his 
mother,  Mrs.  Eustis.  The  road  continues  on  between  the 
superb  country  seats  of  the  Sargents  and  Gardners ;  turning 
abruptly  at  the  top  of  the  hill  to  Jamaica  Pond,  in  one  direction, 
in  the  other  passing  through  the  succession  of  splendid  abodes 
of  Winthrop,  Lowell,  Cabot,  and  Gardiner,  to  the  park  grounds  of 
the  Town  and  Country  Club.  This  road,  in  our  earliest  recollec- 
tion, hedged  with  barberry-bushes  and  sweet-briar,  possessed  a 
wild  simplicity  of  peculiar  fascination.  If  broader  now  and 
better  kept  it  still  retains  its  rural  and  sylvan  attractions,  and, 
with  trees  which  have  grown  more  majestic  in  age,  lawns  which 
are  more  gracefully  dimpled  as  good  taste  and  wealth  have 
been  expended,  its  shrubberies  of  tangled  luxuriance,  it  may 
be  equalled,  but  hardly  surpassed. 

The  Eustis  place,  near  the  meeting-house  and  cemetery, 
rising  abruptly  from  the  road  into  dark  ledges  of  rock  covered 
with  mosses  and  embowered  in  trees,  was  especially  picturesque. 
The  earlier  mansion  where  Mrs.  Eustis  resided  has  given  place 
to  one  of  more  modern  construction  ;  but  the  place  still  belongs 
to  the  family,  or  did  quite  recently.  Across  the  road,  under  the 
shade  of  elms,  tall  and  wide-spreading,  stands  the  imposing  and 


WILLIAM  EUSTIS.  15 

ancient  homestead  of  the  Clarkes,  to  the  daughters  of  which 
house  now  dwelling  close  by,  nearer  the  reservoir,  we  are 
indebted  for  the  following  letter  and  sketch  of  our  classmate. 

The  two  families  were  neighbors  and  friends,  and  as  William 
matured  into  manhood,  if  younger  than  himself,  they  were 
sufficiently  beyond  childhood  to  form  and  retain  vivid  impres- 
sions of  his  many  amiabilities  and  sterling  worth.  With  this  in- 
troduction, the  following  letter  and  lines  need  no  further  ex- 
planation. 

"  In  this  busy,  bustling  world  where  original  talents  are  duly 
estimated  and  applauded,  and  elegant  and  graceful  manners 
win  admiration  for  their  possessor,  how  often  is  true  delicacy 
and  refinement  unnoticed,  because  quiet  and  unobtrusive ! 
Many  a  noble  mind  has  been  suffered  to  droop  away  for  want 
of  true  sympathy,  and  many  a  warm  heart  has  pined  in  solitude 
among  its  fellow-men.  For  such  we  may  rejoice  there  is  a 
better  country,  even  a  heavenly,  where  true  worth  is  recog- 
nized. 

It  has  been  our  purpose  to  give  a  slight  sketch  of  one  who 
was  with  us  for  a  time  both  as  teacher  and  superintendent  in 
our  Sabbath-School ;  but  we  feel  the  task  to  be  one  of  great 
delicacy;  we  fear,  lest  we  should  not  do  justice  to  one  of  whom 
we  think  but  with  respect  and  admiration,  whose  character 
was  appreciated  but  by  a  few  who  knew  him  well,  and  by  whom 
his  memory  will  ever  be  cherished. 

He  was  a  young  man  of  excellent  capacity,  and  his  talents 
were  diligently  and  carefully  cultivated,  and  the  readiness  with 
which  he  imparted  to  others  the  stores  of  his  well-filled  mind 
made  his  society  and  conversation  agreeable  and  instructive. 

Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  trait  in  his  character  was  his 
filial  love ;  —  never  was  there  a  more  attentive  and  devoted  son. 
In  various  kind  and  thoughtful  acts  was  this  exhibited.  Some 
of  his  most  beautiful  plants,  particularly  those  he  knew  to  be 
his  mother's  favorites,  were  so  arranged  in  the  garden  that  she 
might  enjoy  them  from  the  window  of  her  sitting-room  while 
she  sat  at  work. 

He  had  a  great  fondness  for  flowers,  and  in  his  younger 
days  devoted   much  time  to  his  favorite  study  of  botany.      He 


16  IN  MEMORIAM. 

loved  to  spend  days  in  rambling  through  the  woods  and 
swamps,  and  there  are  now  in  his  garden  many  rare  and  valu- 
able plants  which  he  brought  home  from  such  excursions.  The 
trees  and  flowers  he  planted  still  flourish,  though  not  as  for- 
merly ;  the  traces  of  his  skilful  hand  remain,  but  the  pleasant 
voice  and  the  kindly  greeting  are  heard  no  more,  and  the  places 
which  once  knew  him  shall  know  him  no  more  forever. 

Thoroughly  and  with  great  care  he  fitted  himself  for  his 
profession,  that  of  a  physician  ;  but  in  all  his  plans  for  life,  and 
in  various  ways,  he  was  doomed  to  disappointment  and  dis- 
couragement. His  too  susceptible  mind  was  ill-calculated  to 
buffet  the  difficulties  of  life,  and  though  through  his  trials  he 
never  murmured  or  complained,  they  gradually  wore  him  away. 

Gradually  his  health  became  undermined,  and  without  any 
actual  disease  he  gently  drooped  away,  becoming  weaker  every 
day,  until  at  last  he  slept  in  peace.  His  last  words  were  of 
anxiety  lest  he  should  trouble  his  friends. 

He  was  well  fitted  to  die.  As  was  said  of  another,  he  had 
become  accustomed  to  an  existence  beyond  the  body,  for  he 
had  long  lived  in  communion  with  the  high  realities  of  the 
soul.  These  had  become  the  chief  objects  of  his  thoughts,  and 
for  them  he  had  learned  to  cherish  the  deepest  affection. 
Hence  he  lived  so  calmly  here,  —  so  uniform  and  consistent  a 
life,  —  and  hence  the  tranquillity  of  his  death. 

The  following  lines  were  written  his  mother 1  soon  after  his 
death ;  —  that  mother  is  now  reunited  with  her  son  in  that  land 
where  separation  is  unknown  :  — 


With  the  measured  tread  of  the  burial  pace 
To  the  vaulted  tomb  they  bore  him ; 

The  shades  of  death  on  his  manly  face, 
And  the  pall  hung  darkly  o'er  him. 

There  was  many  a  token  upon  his  bier 
Of  a  grief  no  heart  could  smother; 

But  the  heaviest  sigh  and  the  bitterest  tear- 
They  came  from  a  mourning  mother. 


1  By  Mrs.  A.  M.  C.  Edmond. 


WILLIAM  EUSTIS.  17 

She  had  watched  by  his  couch  with  a  soul  of  woe 

And  a  love  that  ne'er  was  stronger, 
Till  her  casket  was  crushed  by  the  spoiler's  blow, 

Till  it  held  her  gem  no  longer. 

She  gave  his  clay  to  the  burial  sod, 

To  the  grave's  cold,  gloomy  prison ; 
But  she  knew  that  its  tenant  was  with  God,  — 

She  knew  that  his  soul  had  risen. 

A  voice  from  a  higher  world  he  heard, 

Like  the  tcmes  of  an  angel  seeming; 
And  the  deep,  deep  font  of  his  soul  it  stirred 

In  the  hour  of  his  midnight  dreaming. 

A  soft,  sweet  lay  in  hi6  charmed  ear  rung,  — 

A  call  to  those  blest  dominions; 
And  his  mantle  of  clay  aside  he  flung, 

And  soared  on  his  heavenly  pinions. 

Away,  away  to  the  seraph  choir, 

To  the  land  forever  vernal, 
To  the  light  that  kindled  the  slumbering  fire 

Of  his  soul  with  a  flame  eternal ! 

The  mist  that  long  on  his  spirit  lay 

Ere  the  death-stroke  came  to  sever, 
In  the  beams  of  that  morning  rolled  away, 

And  it  rolled  away  forever. 

He  hath  passed  away  to  a  purer  sphere, 

For  there  were  no  ties  to  bind  him ; 
But  the  loved  who  brightened  his  pathway  here 

In  their  fond  hearts  have  enshrined  him." 


Little  else  remains  to  be  said.  With  his  sensitive  tempera- 
ment, shrinking  from  observation,  his  own  desire,  perhaps,  was 
to  be  forgotten  and  fade  away  into  oblivion.  But  his  unobtru- 
sive traits  and  exemplary  character  have  left  in  the  memory  of 
his  friends  a  monument  not  soon  to  crumble.  His  life  was 
thus  useful  for  example  and  encouragement;  nor  while  it  lasted 
was  it  stale  or  unprofitable.  After  taking  his  degree,  at 
Cambridge,  he  selected  for  his  profession  the  art  of  healing,  to 
which  he  was  well  adapted  by  nature.  He  had  besides  another 
incentive. 


18  IN  MEMORIAM. 

The  year  before  he  entered  Harvard  his  uncle  and  name- 
sake died  in  office,  as  Governor  of  Massachusetts,  at  the 
age  of  73.  He  had  enlisted,  in  the  American  army  as  surgeon's 
mate  in  1775,  and  as  chief  surgeon,  remained  in  the  service 
till  the  war  ended.  He  practised  in  Boston  from  1788  to  1793  ; 
in  the  General  Court,  took  an  active  and  distinguished  part  in 
the  debates  ;  represented  the  district  in  Congress  for  a  term  ;  was 
then  the  Secretary  of  War;  and  governor  1824-182 5.  He  had 
a  superb  residence,  at  Dorchester,  to  whjch  Governor  Shirley,  in 
1745,  gathered  his  army  for  the  reduction  of  Louisburg.  After 
the  death  of  the  widow  of  the  governor,  the  house  became  a 
convent,  and  while  so  dedicated  to  religious  uses,  the  spacious 
chamber  occupied  by  Lafayette  served  as  the  chapel.  There, 
doubtless,  so  long  as  their  aunt  survived  and  they  were  living, 
William  was  a  frequent  guest,  as  well  as  the  able,  glorious 
Horace,  his  cousin,  son  of  Col.  Abraham  Eustis,  distinguished 
in  the   war  with  England  in    1812— 15. 

Though  circumstances  and  inclination  prompted  him  to 
follow  in  the  steps  of  his  uncle,  as  a  physician,  and  he  took  his 
medical  degree  in  1834,  at  Harvard,  with  pleasant  companions, 
Dr.  Wilde  and  others  well-remembered  medical  men,  left  no 
opening  in  the  then  small  community  of  Brookline  for  one  so 
young  and  inexperienced.  His  mother's  health,  and  her 
dependence  upon  his  society  and  protection,  forbade  the  thought 
of  going  where  there  was  less  competition.  This  disappointment 
of  his  aspirations  may  have  occasioned  the  tendency  to  melan- 
choly, to  which  he  was  naturally  disposed,  and  quickened  the 
seeds  of  premature  decay,  which  soon  brought  his  life  to  an 
end. 


JOHN  BRYANT, 

SON   OF  JOHN   BRYANT  AND   MARY   CLEVELAND   SMITH. 

1810  —  184J. 


BY   HIS    DAUGHTER,   JULIA    BRYANT    PAINE,    OF    BOSTON. 


AFTER  graduating,  Mr.  Bryant  made  an  extended  tour  in 
Europe,  which  lasted  about  a  year.     After  his  return  he 
was  admitted  to  partnership  in  the  firm  of  Bryant  &  Stur- 
gis,  of  which  his  father  was  senior  member-. 

In  1835  ne  married  Georgina  Gardner,  daughter  of  the  late 
George  Gardner  Lee,  of  Boston,  and  with  occasional  absences  in 
Europe  and  in  this  country,  for  business  or  pleasure,  he  lived 
in  Boston  during  the  remainder  of  his  life.  His  wife  died  in 
1 84 1  or  '42,  without  children.  In  1844  he  married  her  sister, 
Mary  Anna  Lee,  and  soon  afterwards  retired  from  business. 
He  died  on  the  15th  of  October,  1847,  in  the  37th,  year  of  his 
age.  By  his  second  wife  (who  survived  him)  he  had  two 
daughters.  The  elder  died  in  infancy,  a  few  months  before  her 
father.  The  younger  in  1867  married  Charles  Jackson  Paine, 
of  class  of  '53. 


BY   HIS    FRIEND,    IOHN    LOTHROP   MOTLEY 


Surrounded  by  all  which  makes  life  desirable;  prosper- 
ous, honored,  beloved,  happy-  in  all  his  social  relations; 
gifted   with    a   sweet   and  sunny  temper,  with   a  keen  sense  of 

J  Written  soon  after  Mr.  Bryant's  decease. 


20  IN  MEMOKIAM. 

enjoyment,  with  a  merry  heart,  whose  outpourings  were  so 
sparkling  that  he  was  not  only  happy  himself,  but  was  the  cause 
of  happiness  in  others ;  possessing,  apparently,  that  which  to 
heathen  philosophy  seemed  the  greatest  good,  —  the  healthy 
mind  in  the  healthy  body,  —  our  friend  has  been  summoned 
from  the  very  midst  of  life's  banquet,  and,  in  the  high-noon  of 
manhood,  to  lay  down  his  treasures,  and  to  leave  forever  the 
warm  precincts  of  the  day. 

It  was  hard  for  such  a  man  to  die.  Although  we  know  that 
he  submitted  to  the  decree  with  calmness,  yet  it  is  hard  to  bear 
his  loss.  He  was  one  whom  it  is  difficult  to  do  without.  He 
was  emphatically  a  man,  as  little  sophisticated  and  convention- 
alized, as  real,  as  true,  as  vigorous,  as  it  is  often  one's  lot  to 
meet  upon  the  dull  road  of  life.  The  qualities  of  his  mind,  of 
his  heart,  of  his  character  were  all  admirable. 


"  The  elements 
So  mixed  in  him  that  Nature  might  stand  up, 
And  say  to  all  the  world,  '  This  was  a  man. '  " 


His  mind  was  no  common  one.  It  was  quick,  healthy, 
robust,  accurate,  sagacious  ;  it  had  been  cultivated  by  an  excel- 
lent education,  improved  by  much  travel  and  intercourse  with 
the  world,  and  imbued  with  a  love  of  literature  and  with  an  un- 
affected but  refined  and  appreciating  love  of  art. 

No  one  made  fewer  pretensions,  yet  his  mind  acknowledged 
no  man  master;  and  it  was,  therefore,  that  companionship  with 
him  was  so  delightful,  because  his  thoughts  and  his  words  were 
individual  and  his  own,  and  not  mere  contributions  to  swell  the 
long,  loud,  wearisome  monotone  which  goes  up  so  ceaselessly 
from  the  level  surface  of  society. 

As  he  was  a  bold  and  manly  thinker,  so  was  he  prompt, 
courageous,  and  resolute  in  action,  and  emphatically  one  of 
those  who  impress  themselves  indelibly  upon  their  fellow-men, 
—  but  it  was,  after  all,  the  fine  qualities  of  his  heart  and  his 
character  which  made  him  beloved  and  respected  by  all  who 
knew  him  ;  and  in  speaking  of  these  one  need  be  in  no  fear  of 
using  exaggerated  language. 


JOHN  BRYANT.  21 

No  words  are  more  than  adequate  to  express  his  perfect  and 
unsullied  integrity  or  his  steadfast  truth,  which  all  hearts  in 
communion  with  him  felt  that  they  could  trust  as  an  anchor, 
whatever  storms  of  adversity  might  assail  them. 

In  brief,  a  powerful  and  cultivated  mind,  principles  lofty  and 
pure,  a  character  without  a  stain,  a  strong  and  sincere  religious 
feeling ;  equally  removed  from  the  bigotry  of  idolatry  or  that 
of  free-thinking ;  a  heart  as  open  as  the  day,  loving,  affection- 
ate, manly,  "  a  brave  spirit  in  a  loyal  breast.  "  These  were 
the   attributes   of  him  whose  loss  we  so   deeply  deplore. 

A  troop  of  friends  to  whom  he  was  endeared,  not  only  by  his 
manly  virtues,  but  by  his  frank  and  joyous  disposition,  his  per- 
fect and  impregnable  temper,  his  well-bred  but  hearty  man- 
ners, will  feel  more  and  more  every  succeeding  day  how  much 
of  their  life's  habitual  sunshine  has  been  clouded  by  his  depart- 
ure. His  flashes  of  merriment  will  be  long  and  freshly  remem- 
bered by  them,  his  manly  voice  will  long  ring  and  reecho  in 
their  hearts,  and  even  those  whose  lot  it  may  be  to  see  their 
years  protracted  to  the  extreme  limit  of  humanity,  will  bear 
with  them  to  its  close  the  image  of  Bryant,  as  of  one  asso- 
ciated with  the  best  and  brightest  portion  of  their  days,  as 
an  undying  embodiment  of  their  own  life's  noon,  an  image  of 
manhood  ennobled  by  many  of  its  brightest  and  loftiest  char- 
acteristics. 


BENJAMIN  H.  ANDREWS. 
1811  — 1847. 


BY   HIS   NEPHEW,   MORTON   D.   ANDREWS,   OF  BOSTON. 


BENJAMIN  HALSEY  ANDREWS  was  the  son  of  James 
Andrews,  a  leading  Boston  merchant,  and    Sarah  Win- 
throp,  his  wife,  who  was  a  grand-daughter  of  Professor 
Winthrop,  of  Harvard  College,  and  a  lineal  descendant  of  the 
first  governor  of  Massachusetts,  John  Winthrop,  and  his  third 
wife,   Margaret  Tyndale. 

Mr.  Andrews  was  born  in  Boston  in  the  year  181 1,  and  died 
in  Philadelphia  in  the  year  1847.  He  was  never  married.  His 
mother,  who  died  in  Boston  in  1863,  and  five  brothers  and  two 
sisters  survived  him. 

He  received  his  early  education  at  the  hands  of  private  tutors, 
and  when  about  twelve  years  of  age  entered  the  Boston  Latin 
School,  where  he  remained  until  he  had  finished  the  full  course 
of  instruction.  After  graduating  from  that  school  he  entered 
Harvard  College,  in  the  class  of  1830.  He  graduated  as  the 
valedictorian  of  his  class.  He  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School, 
and  graduated  in  the  class  of  1833.  In  college  and  at  the  law 
school  he  took  high  position  in  his  classes,  which  he  maintained 
during  his  entire  stay  in  Cambridge. 

After  leaving  the  law  school  he  entered  the  office  of  the  late 
Hon.  Elias  Hasket  Derby,  in  Boston,  and  in  a  short  period 
became  Mr.  Derby's  law  partner,  and  remained  with  him  until 
feeble  health  compelled  him  to  retire  from  the  active  practice 
of  his  profession. 

Mr.   Andrews  was   admitted  to  the  Massachusetts  bar  at  the 


BENJAMIN  H.   ANDREWS.  23 

October  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Suffolk  County 
in  the  year  1833.  His  career  at  the  bar  was  short,  but  during 
the  time  he  was  in  active  practice  he  tried  many  cases,  among 
them  some  which  were  important. 

After  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  travelled  extensively  in 
Europe,  visiting  among  other  countries  England,  Scotland, 
France,  Switzerland,  and  Italy. 

Socially  Mr.  Andrews  was  very  popular,  having  many  friends, 
and  taking  an  active  part  in  most  of  the  entertainments  of  his 
day.  He  was  very  bright  and  witty,  and  his  friends  recall 
even  now  some  of  his  funny  sayings.  His  classmates  and 
friends  say,  had  he  lived  he  would  have  undoubtedly  made  his 
mark  in  the  profession  which  he  had  chosen. 

His  early  death  was  due  to  an  accident.  He  was  thrown 
from  his  horse  while  riding  over  South  Boston  bridge.  He 
never  recovered  from  this  fall,  and  although  at  times  he  seemed 
better,  yet  he  was  never  able  to  resume  active  practice. 


SAMUEL  McBURNEY. 
J799  — l849- 


BY   HIS    SISTER,    MRS.   JAMES    B.    DOW,    OF   BOSTON. 


REV.  SAMUEL  McBURNEY  was  born  in  the  north  of 
Ireland,  near  Belfast,  in  the  year  1799.  Owing  to  the 
death  of  his  father,  at  an  early  age,  he  was  taken  from 
one  of  the  best  schools  in  Belfast,  and  soon  after  came  to 
Boston,  where  he  made  many  kind  friends  and  joined  a 
literary  society  composed  of  some  of  the  best  young  men 
of  the  city. 

Mr.  McBurney  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  and 
of  marked  ability,  a  fine  reader  and  speaker. 

After  a  few  years  his  friends  were  anxious  to  have  him  go  to 
college,  which  he  concluded  to  do,  and  prepared  under  the 
care  of  Rev.  Theodore  Edson,  of  Lowell. 

Mr.  McBurney  was  much  beloved  by  all  his  friends,  refined 
in  manner  and  in  heart,  —  a  true  Christian  gentleman.  After  his 
graduation  he  studied  for  the  ministry,  under  Rev.  Dr.  Edson, 
and  was  ordained  as  an  Episcopal  minister.  His  first  call  was 
to  Springfield,  Mass.,  where  he  preached  acceptably  for  a  few 
years,  and  there  married  Laura  Lyman,  daughter  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Lyman,  of  that  place.  He  then  came  to  Boston,  and  became 
City  Missionary  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  where  he  was 
faithful,  zealous,  and  useful.  Three  children,  one  son  and 
two  daughters,  were  born  in  Boston,  only  one  of  whom  is 
now  living,  who  although  very  young  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  recalls  his  devotion  to  his  family  as  a  husband  and 
father. 


SAMUEL   McBURNEY.  25 

Circumstances  made  it  best  for  him  to  go  to  Philadelphia  as 
his  family  increased.  He  was  there,  however,  but  a  short  time 
when  he  was  taken  ill  with  typhoid  fever,  which  ended  in  death, 
July  9,  1849,  at  the  age  of  50  years.  He  was  buried  in 
Ronaldson's    Cemetery,    Philadelphia. 


FRANKLIN    SAWYER. 
1809  —  1851. 


BY   HIS    FRIEND,  CHIEF-JUSTICE   CAMPBELL,  OF  MICHIGAN. 


FRANKLIN  SAWYER  was  the  son  of  Franklin  and  Mary 
Sawyer,  and  was  born  in  Cambridge,  June,  1809.  Immedi- 
ately after  graduating  (in  1830)  he  came  to  Detroit,  and 
entered  the  law  office  of  Gen.  Charles  Larned,  a  leading  advo- 
cate, where,  during  the  period  required  to  be  spent  before  ad- 
mission to  the  bar,  he  had,  as  his  associates,  Samuel  Pitts,  a  class- 
mate, and  Jacob  M.  Howard  (afterward  U.  S.  Senator),  with 
both  of  whom  he  was  subsequently  engaged  in  business.  Hav- 
ing a  good  deal  of  leisure  he  became  with  some  friends  in- 
terested in  founding  the  "  Detroit  Courier,"  which  was  a  literary 
journal  of  merit,  chiefly  managed  and  edited  by  Mr.  Sawyer, 
Charles  Cleland,  and  Ebenezer  S.  B.  Canning,  all  gentlemen  of  edu- 
cation and  refinement,  and  all  forcible  and  elegant  writers.  This 
paper  was  merged  in  the  "  Detroit  Advertiser,"  which  was  then 
the  leading  Whig  paper  of  Michigan,  and  Mr.  Sawyer  became  a 
principal  editor  of  that  journal.  He  took  an  active  and  influen- 
tial part  in  territorial  and  State  politics.  In  1832  he  joined  with 
several  other  young  men  in  establishing  the  Detroit  Young  Men's 
Society,  which  remained  for  half  a  century  an  active  association, 
having  an  important  influence  on  the  literary  advancement  of 
the  community.  In  1841,  the  Whigs  being  in  power,  he  was 
appointed  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  for  the  State,  and 
gave  up  his  practice,  which  had  been  large,  to  devote  himself  to 
the  development  of  the  Public-School  System,  which  had  been 
well  planned  by  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Pierce,  but  which  received 


FRANKLIN  SAWYER.  27 

much  profit  from  the  earnest  and  wise  efforts  of  Mr.  Sawyer, 
who  had  charge  of  the  management  of  the  school  lands,  as  well 
as  of  the  educational  functions  of  his  office.  His  successors  give 
him  great  credit  for  his  work.  He  remained  in  this  office  two 
years,  and  was  then  summoned  to  take  charge  as  Superintendent 
of  the  School  System  of  New  Orleans.  In  that  city  his  success 
was  quite  marked,  and  his  services  were  highly  appreciated. 
After  a  few  years  he  returned  to  the  North,  and  thereafter  made 
his  home  in  Cambridgeport,  Mass.,  till  his  death. 

Mr.  Sawyer  was  tall  and  erect,  with  thick  and  curly  brown 
hair  and  large  blue  eyes.  His  features  were  mobile  and  expres- 
sive, and  his  manner  energetic  and  earnest.  He  had  a  pleasant 
though  ardent  temper,  and  was  a  ready  and  eloquent  speaker, 
and  his  conversation  was  animated  and  attractive.  He  suc- 
ceeded very  well  at  the  bar.  He  was  strictly  honest  in  mind  and 
in  business.  He  was  an  enthusiast  in  his  sentiments,  but  well- 
balanced  and  deliberate  in  his  conclusions.  He  was  in  private 
life  very  much  loved  and  esteemed. 


ISAAC   APPLETON   JEWETT. 
1809  — 1852. 


BY    HIS    KINSMAN,    S.    ARTHUR   BENT,    OF   CLINTON,   MASS. 


ISAAC    APPLETON    JEWETT,    the    son    of    Moses    and 
Emily   (Appleton)  Jewett,  was  born  at  Burlington,  Vt.,  in 
1809.     Entering  college  at  the  beginning  of  the  course  he 
gave  promise  of  what  distinguished  him  in  mature  life,  — sound 
scholarship,  a  refined  musical  and  literary  taste,  and  engaging 
manners. 

After  graduation  he  studied  law,  to  the  practice  of  which  he 
devoted  a  few  years  at  Cincinnati  and  New  Orleans.  His  tastes, 
however,  led  him  to  other  pursuits.  In  1835  ne  made  his  first 
tour  of  Europe  ;  the  unusual  social  advantages  he  there  enjoyed, 
and  his  keen  powers  of  observation  and  vivid  description,  bore 
fruit  in  two  volumes,  entitled,  "  Passages  in  Foreign  Travel." 
They  originally  appeared  in  the  form  of  letters,  and  to  the  end 
of  his  life  Jewett  was  emphatically  a  letter-writer.  Although 
not  engaged  in  specific  literary  labors,  after  the  publication  of 
the  "  Passages  "  and  the  "  Appleton  Memorial,"  his  familiarity 
with  the  languages  and  literature  of  Europe,  and  the  graphic 
power  with  which  he  reproduced  his  own  experiences  and 
impressions,  gave  to  his  pen-pictures  of  subsequent  travel  a 
piquancy  and  charm   only  equalled  by  his   conversation. 

The  "  Memorial  of  Samuel  Appleton,  of  Ipswich,  Mass.,  with 
genealogical  notices  of  some  of  his  descendants,"  was  compiled 
by  Jewett  from  materials  collected  mainly  by  his  uncles,  Eben 
and  Nathan  Appleton,  and  was  printed  in  1850.  It  was  one  of 
the  first  attempts  to  trace  American   genealogy  to  its  source 


ISAAC  APPLE  TON  JEWETT.  29 

beyond  the  Atlantic.  The  acquaintance  with  the  widely  spread 
members  of  his  family  at  home,  which  the  preparation  of  this 
volume  gave  Jewett,  caused  him,  during  the  later  years  of  his 
life,  to  make  frequent  journeys  and  reports  upon  their  material 
well-being,  on  behalf  of  a  venerable  relative  whose  retirement 
was  cheered  by  the  vivacious  letters  in  which  these  journeys 
were  described.  Jewett  had  now  established  himself  at  Keene, 
N.H.,  drawn  thither  by  the  presence  of  another  member  of  his 
family,  and  by  the  cultivated  society  of  that  beautiful  town. 
He  was  in  the  habit,  however,  of  visiting,  from  time  to  time, 
various  members  of  his  family,  where  he  was  always  a  welcome 
guest,  for,  while  his  manners  were  distinguished,  his  conversa- 
tion was  as  far  removed  from  arrogance  as  from  commonplace. 
He  loved  truth,  sincerity,  and  naturalness,  wherever  he  found 
them ;  he  hated  shams,  hypocrisy,  and  falsehood,  of  every 
kind. 

In  the  appropriation  during  his  short  life  of  forty-four  years 
of  what  was  best  in  the  culture  of  two  continents,  Jewett  fulfilled 
the  purpose  of  the  quotation  which  he  wrote,  with  his  name,  in 
the  Class-Book  at  graduation  :  "  The  world's  mine  oyster,  which 
I  with  sword  will  open."  He  died  at  Keene,  N.H.,  Jan.  14, 
1853,  and  was  buried  at  Burlington,  where  his  tombstone  bears 
an  even  more  appropriate  inscription :  "  He  was  a  scholar,  and 
a  ripe  and  good  one." 


LEVI    C.    EATON. 
1812  — 1852. 


BY   HIS    SON,   AMASA   C.    EATON,    OF   PROVIDENCE,    R.I. 


LEVI  CURTIS  EATON,  son  of  Levi  and  Susan  (Howe) 
Eaton,  was  born  at  Framingham,  Mass.,  in  1812.  He 
prepared  for  college  at  Framingham  Academy,  and  en- 
tered Harvard  University  in  1826,  graduating  in  1830.  He  then 
went  to  Providence,  R.I.,  and  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Wm. 
R.  Staples,  who  became  afterwards  Chief-Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Rhode  Island.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  became 
an  active  lawyer.  In  1837  he  married  Sarah  B.  (Mason)  Rug- 
gles,  of  Providence.  His  practice  steadily  increased  until  failing 
health  compelled  him  to  abandon  the  profession.  In  retirement 
he  gratified  his  literary  tastes  and  pursuits,  and  became  much 
interested  in  horticultural  matters.  He  died,  in  1852,  after  great 
suffering  for  many  years,  from  asthma  and  consumption. 


JOSEPH    BARNEY  WILLIAMS. 
1810  —  1853. 


BY    HIS    CLASSMATE,   JOHN   O.    SARGENT,    OF   NEW   YORK. 


JOSEPH  BARNEY  WILLIAMS  was  born  in  Baltimore  on 
the  1 6th  of  October,  1810.  He  was  the  son  of  Nathaniel 
Williams,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  of  1801,  and  for 
many  years  United  States  District  Attorney  for  Maryland.  He 
received  his  early  education  in  his  native  city,  and  was  fitted  for 
college  at  the  Round  Hill  School,  in  Northampton,  Mass.,  then 
under  the  charge  of  Messrs.  Cogswell  &  Bancroft.  He  entered  the 
Sophomore  Class  in  Harvard  College  in  1827.  On  graduating, 
in  1830,  he  studied  law  in  his  father's  office,  and  was  in  due 
course  admitted  to  the  bar.  Of  a  social  disposition,  with 
winning  manners  and  many  entertaining  and  attractive  qualities, 
he  became  a  general  favorite  in  the  best  circles  to  a  degree 
that  interfered  with  great  professional  success.  For  several 
years  he  had  the  appointment  as  notary  public  and  commis- 
sioner, for  which  he  was  admirably  qualified  by  his  habitual 
clerical  neatness  and  accuracy.  For  a  number  of  years  the 
writer  was  in  communication  with  him  in  his  exercise  of  these 
vocations,  and  had  opportunities  of  knowing  with  what  conscien- 
tious care  he  discharged  all  trusts  imposed  on  him.  He  died 
on  the  30th  of  August,  1853. 


JAMES   BENJAMIN. 
Died,  1853. 


BY  HIS  FRIEND,  WILLIAM  MINOT,  OF  BOSTON. 


DIED,  at  Springfield/  Mass.,  25th  August,  1853,  James 
Benjamin,  Esq.,  a  member  of  the  Suffolk  bar. 
The  death  of  any  upright  man,  in  the  prime  of  life,  who 
has  been  thoroughly  educated,  and  has  proved  himself  able 
and  faithful  in  the  discharge  of  a  liberal  profession,  is  always 
a  public  loss,  and  in  some  sense  demands  a  public  notice.  By 
such  a  death  the  community  loses  the  benefit  of  an  intelligence 
trained  to  conduct  to  a  successful  issue  the  complicated  and 
critical  affairs  of  life,  and  of  a  foresight  and  sagacity  fitted  to 
point  out  a  safe  path  for  the  energy  of  others,  or  to  extricate 
from  difficulties  and  embarrassments,  which  the  most  prudent 
cannot  always  avoid.  Then  passes  away  from  the  life  and  use 
of  man  a  matured  judgment,  a  courage  to  assume  responsi- 
bility and  a  competency  to  discharge  it,  a  proved  and  admitted 
fidelity  to  duty,  resource  enriched  by  experience,  a  rectitude 
both  intrinsic  and  enlightened,  knowledge  of  character,  a  liberal 
interpretation  of  the  motives  of  men,  and  the  feeling  of 
repose  and  reliance  enjoyed  by  those  who  are  brought  into 
relations  with  such  a  man.  The  public  is  rich  in  proportion 
to  its  accumulation  of  such  characters,  and  the  loss  of  any  such 
mind  and  character  so  far  impoverishes  it. 

Mr.  Benjamin,  though  not  widely  known,  had  an  influence 
and  power  of  character  which  eminently  illustrated  these 
remarks.  He  was  educated  at  Harvard  College,  bred  to  the 
profession  of  the  law  in  the  office  of  William  Minot,  Esq.,  of 


JAMES  BENJAMIN.  33 

Boston,  and   admitted  to  the  bar  of  Suffolk  county  in  the  year 
1834.     A  taste  for  retirement,  a  disinclination  to  try   causes  of 
which  the  issue  could  not  be  made  nearly  certain  by  careful 
preparation    before  trial,    a    certain   mistrust,    perhaps    not    ill- 
founded,  of  the   competency    of  juries  to    arrive    at    accurate 
results,  a  love  of  certainty  arising  from  the  mathematical  char- 
acter of   his  mind,  and    a  total    absence    of  vanity  or  love  of 
excitement,  prevented  his  becoming  conspicuous  as  an  advocate 
at  the  bar ;  and,  with  occasional  exceptions,  in  which  he  dis- 
played marked  ability,  he  confined  himself  to  chamber  practice. 
To  this  unnoted,  but  very  important,  branch  of  the  profession 
he  brought  rare  qualities  of  mind  and  character.      His  mind  was 
thoroughly  imbued  with  the  principles  of  the  common  law,  and 
by  a  rapidity  of  legal  reasoning,  which  seemed  almost  intuitive, 
he  applied   those    principles  with  great    accuracy  to  the  most 
complicated    matters     of    business.     Perplexing    and     intricate 
questions,  when  presented  to  his  mind,  were  resolved  as  if  by 
a  chemical  process  into  the  sharp,  well-defined,  and  crystalline 
forms  of  their  legal    relations,  and,  with  these  as  a  basis,   his 
mind  moved  by  steps  of  the  purest  legal  reasoning  and  induc- 
tion to  the  conclusion  on  which  alone  his  client  could  safely 
stand.      His  capacity  of  marshalling  facts  under  the  legal  prin- 
ciples which    controlled    them  was   very    remarkable ;    and  his 
power  of  applying  these  principles  in  all  their  purity,   uncor- 
rupted  by  the  fallacy  of  false  logic,  made  him  competent  to  the 
clear  and  satisfactory  solution   of  any  questions  however  new 
and  involved.      He  was  not  a  great  reader  of  cases,  but  loved 
and  studied  the  elementary  works;  and  the  law  was  to  him  a 
pure  science  of  principles,  not  a  collection  of  authorities.      In 
his  early  life  he  had  a  great  taste  for  mathematics,  and  the  ac- 
curacy,   pure    reason,  and    certainty    of    mathematical    science 
strongly  imbued  his  love  and  studies  of  the  law.     But  he  had 
combined  with  this  power  of  legal  reasoning  much  richness  and 
felicity  of  thought,  which  gave  freshness  and  originality  to  his 
mental  operations,   and  were  mainly  the  cause  of  his  singular 
power  of  clearly  and  satisfactorily  leading  others  to  the  con- 
clusion   on  which    his  own   mind   rested.      His    arguments  and 
discussions   had  a  rare  clearness  and  transparency,  with  which 


34  IN  MRMORIAM. 

conviction  went  so  hand  in  hand  that  it  was  a  great  intellectual 
pleasure  to  listen  to  them.  He  added  to  and  enriched  this 
power  with  an  admirable  force  of  illustration.  His  illustrations 
were,  as  Walter  Scott  calls  them,  dangerous  weapons ;  but  they 
were  dangerous  to  his  adversary,  and  not  to  himself.  They 
were  singularly  felicitous,  complete,  and  unassailable.  Drawn 
usually  from  familiar,  and  almost  homely,  objects,  they  had 
none  of  the  charm  of  poetry,  but  all  the  beauty  of  truth  irra- 
diated. An  obscure  relation,  not  easily  comprehended,  started 
by  the  force  of  these  into  noonday  clearness ;  and  out  of  a 
mass  of  indefinite  shadows  and  glimpses  of  truth  he  furnished 
a  guide,  not  so  much  of  authority  as  of  unanswerable  reason 
and  conviction.  His  temper  was  admirably  fitted  for  the 
exercise  of  those  intellectual  powers.  It  was  calm,  placable, 
self-reliant,  and  cautious.  He  trusted  to  the  power  of  convic- 
tion alone  to  influence  others,  —  of  conviction  enforced  by  tem- 
perate, but  decisive  argument.  However  harassed  he  rarely 
allowed  himself  to  become  irritated;  and,  as  he  had  the  power 
of  condensed  and  epigrammatic  sarcasm,  this  merit  of  good 
temper  was  due  not  less  to  self-control  than  to  nature.  The 
only  form  of  character  which  excited  his  uncontrolled  indigna- 
tion was  ignorance  seeking  to  cloak  itself  under  duplicity  and 
meanness ;  and  against  this  combination  his  rebuke  was  sharp 
and  condensed.  He  hated  falsehood  and  dishonesty.  They 
were  abhorrent  alike  to  his  incorruptible  integrity  and  to  his 
clear,  straightforward  mind.  In  all  questions  of  moral  conduct 
his  judgment  was  nice  and  decisive.  No  man  could  be  more 
thoroughly  honest ;  he  seemed  indeed  to  be  above  temptation. 
His  views  of  right  and  wrong  were  unbiassed  by  the  distinc- 
tions which  sometimes  cloud  the  judgment  in  the  compli- 
cated relations  of  a  highly  artificial  state  of  society.  His  sense 
.of  justice  knew  no  degrees  of  comparison,  no  shades  or  variety 
of  color;  but  he  walked  through  life  on  the  right  side  of  a  clear 
and  well-defined  line  of  conduct.  But  the  severity  of  his  judg- 
ment over  his  own  actions  he  charitably  mitigated  in  his  opinion 
of  others.  Few  men  have  said  less  harsh  things  of  others  ;  and 
certainly  he  never  said  an  ill-natured  thing. 

The  great  defect  of  Mr.  Benjamin's  character  was  his  total 


JAMES  BENJAMIN.  35 

absence  of  ambition,  —  of  that  ambition  which  seeks  to  find  the 
largest  sphere  for  one's  faculties,  and  to  reap  the  most  abundant 
harvest  of  labor.  He  took  the  responsibilities  of  life  as  they 
were  forced  upon  him  ;  he  had  no  desire  or  enterprise  to  seek 
them  out.  When  the  occasion  came  he  did  his  duty  with  the 
thoroughness  and  strength  of  a  clear  intellect  and  a  compelling 
conscience.  Endowed  with  talents  which  entitled  him  to  take  a 
very  high  place  in  his  profession  he  was  yet  content  to  follow 
the  paths  of  a  comparatively  subordinate  one.  Nor  had  he 
those  qualities  which  sometimes  supply,  though  imperfectly,  the 
want  of  an  enlarged  ambition  ;  he  had  no  vanity,  no  love  of 
notoriety  or  praise,  and  was  indifferent  to  wealth  and  its  enjoy- 
ments. Accident  might  have  made  him  distinguished,  for  he 
was  intellectually  adequate  to  any  occasion  ;  but  life  had  for  him 
no  interests  keen  enough,  no  temptations  strong  enough,  to 
arouse  his  somewhat  sluggish  temperament.  With  his  duty 
done  was  ended  the  spring  to  exertion.  His  conscience  was  iron, 
and  his  intellect  was  electric  and  played  brilliant  and  beautiful 
over  the  lines  and  pathways  of  his  duties ;  but  beyond  this  the 
attraction  was  lost,  and  the  vivifying  power  failed  to  operate. 
Probably  the  consciousness  that  the  seeds  of  early  death  were 
sown  in  his  system  repressed  his  energies,  and  imparted  a 
seriousness,  and  at  times  almost  solemnity,  to  his  thoughts  and 
manners.  His  sympathies,  though  strong,  were  not  quick ;  and 
without  ready  and  comprehensive  sympathies  a  man's  influence 
is  narrowed  to  the  circle  of  his  immediate  friends.  But  with 
these  Mr.  Benjamin  was  social  and  full  of  cordial  interest.  And 
to  those  who  knew  him  well  he  appeared  so  faithful  a  friend, 
so  devoted  a  relative,  so  sound  and  reliable  an  adviser,  so  capable 
and  conscientious  in  the  exercise  of  his  profession,  and,  withal, 
so  peculiar,  original,  and  excellent  in  his  character,  as  to  leave 
only  the  regret  that  his  life  was  so  short,  and  that  he  departed 
so  little  known  and  appreciated. 


THOMAS    HOPKINSON. 

iSoj.  — 1850. 


BY   HIS    SON,   JOHN    P.    HOPKINSON,    OF   CAMBRIDGE. 


THOMAS  HOPKINSON  was  the  third  son  of  Theophilus 
and  Susanna  (Allen)  Hopkinson,  and  born  in  the  village 
of  New  Sharon,  near    Farmington,  Maine,  August    25, 

1804. 

His  father,  Theophilus,  born  in  Exeter,  N.H.,  was  left  an 
orphan  by  the  death  of  his  father,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
and  brought  up  by  an  uncle,  who,  by  harsh  treatment,  excessive 
work,  and  utter  neglect  of  his  education,  exhausted  the  young 
man's  patience.  Tramping  through  New  Hampshire  and  Maine, 
Theophilus  cleared  himself  a  farm,  built  a  log-house,  married 
and  brought  up  a  large  family.  Although  he  was  a  large  and 
powerful  man  the  hard  work  he  had  been  obliged  since  boy- 
hood to  perform  broke  down  his  health  at  the  early  age  of 
forty-five,  and  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  management  of 
the  farm  to  his  sons.  The  labor  and  responsibility  fell  largely 
on  Thomas,  then  only  fifteen  years  old  ;  but  an  ever-strength- 
ening taste  for  study,  and  the  desire  for  an  education  higher 
than  the  neighborhood  could  furnish,  made  the  farm-work 
irksome.  At  the  age  of  seventeen  he  attended  the  Farmington 
Academy  during  the  summer  months,  and  in  the  winter  taught 
school  in  his  native  village,  with  his  two  older  brothers  among 
his  pupils.  His  success  in  this  undertaking  he  attributed  largely 
to  the  affectionate  support  of  these  brothers,  who  for  his  sake 
readily  submitted  to  the  mortification  of  being  ruled  by  their 
junior. 


77 /O MAS  HOPKINSON.  37 

No  man  is  more  impressed  with  his  own  ignorance  than  a 
faithful  teacher;  and  in  the  case  of  Thomas  Hopkinson  the 
consciousness  of  his  deficiencies  increased  the  love  of  study  ;  but 
the  ill-health  of  his  father  and  older  brother,  and  the  absence 
of  his  oldest  brother,  obliged  him  to  continue  the  alternate 
farming  and  teaching  until  his  twenty-first  year,  when  he  deter- 
mined to  seek  a  collegiate  education,  if  possible,  at  Bowdoin 
College.  He  was  forced  by  his  poverty  to  prepare  himself,  and 
mastered  the  required  amount  of  Latin  and  Greek  in  a  single 
year.  Just  before  the  time  for  going  up  for  examination,  at 
Bowdoin,  two  gentlemen,  Mr.  Henry  H.  Fuller,  of  Boston,  and 
Mr.  Simeon  C.Whittier,  of  Augusta,  becoming  greatly  interested 
in  him,  urged  him  to  go  to  Cambridge,  and  promised  to  aid 
him  with  letters  and  money.  His  friends  at  home,  strong  in  the 
Baptist  faith,  begged  him  not  to  go  to  "the  very  fountain-head 
of  infidelity,"  and  "  where  they  had  forsaken  the  true  God ;  " 
but  Thomas,  no  longer  sympathizing  with  their  views,  and  hold- 
ing rather  to  the  Unitarian  doctrine,  decided  to  try  his  luck  at 
Harvard,  and  never  regretted  the  decision.  His  limited  means 
would  have  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  have  spent  four  years 
in  Cambridge  but  for  the  constant  friendship  of  his  two 
advisers,  whose  generosity  never  tired,  and  his  earnings  from 
teaching  at  Leominster  and  Groton  in  the  winters. 

After  the  first  hard  work,  in  overcoming  the  drawbacks  of  his 
imperfect  preparation,  his  natural  ability  and  maturer  intellect 
gave  him  an  advantage  over  his  competitors,  and  in  1830  he 
was  graduated  at  the  head  of  his  class,  delivering  an  oration 
on  "  Patriotism."  In  1833  he  received  the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts,  delivering  another  oration.  After  a  happy  stay  at  the  Law 
School,  where  his  most  intimate  friends  were  Charles  Sumner 
and  John  W.  Browne,  he  entered  the  office  of  Luther  Lawrence, 
at  Lowell,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1833.  Soon  after 
he  was  made  a  partner,  and  at  different  times  was  associated 
with  Elisha  Glidden,  Seth  Ames,  Rufus  B.  Lawrence,  and  Arthur 
P.  Bonney,  and  gained  a  reputation  as  an  able  and  upright 
lawyer. 

In  1836  he  married  Corinna  Prentiss,  daughter  of  John 
Prentiss,    of    Keene,    N.H.       His    four   children    were    Francis 


38  IN  MEMORIAM. 

Custis,  who  was  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1859,  entered  the 
forty-fourth  Regiment  of  Mass.  Volunteers,  and  died  at  Newbern, 
N.C.,  in  1863  ;  John  Prentiss  (H.U.,  1861 ),  a  teacher  in  Boston  ; 
Ellen  Christina,  married  to  Hersey  B.  Goodwin,  a  Boston 
merchant;  Grace  Mellen,  married  to  Charles  W.  Eliot,  Presi- 
dent of  Harvard  University.  His  widow  survived  him  twenty- 
seven  years,  dying  at  Cambridge,  May  16,  1883. 

In  politics  Thomas  Hopkinson  was  a  strong  Whig,  and  in 
1838  and  1845  represented  Lowell  in  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, and  in  1846  was  elected  to  the  Massachusetts  Senate.  He 
always  took  a  lively  interest  in  the  welfare  of  his  townsmen,  and 
as  a  public-spirited  citizen  aided  in  the  growth  of  Lowell.  He 
was  one  of  the  chief  movers  in  the  establishment  of  the  Apple- 
ton  Bank,  and  in  1848  was  President  of  the  Lowell  Traders'  & 
Mechanics'  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Co.  In  1848  he  was  ap- 
pointed Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  a  position  which 
he  held  but  one  year,  resigning  in  order  to  become  President  of 
the  Boston  &  Worcester  Railroad,  which  office  he  filled  during 
the  rest  of  his  life. 

Although  he  was  a  man  of  great  physical  strength  and  endur- 
ance, yet  all  his  life  since  boyhood  had  been  spent  in  constant 
labor  and  responsibility,  taxing  his  powers  to  the  utmost,  and 
leaving  him  no  reserved  strength  to  resist  sickness.  In  the 
summer  of  1856,  finding  his  health  completely  broken  down,  he 
was  induced  to  go  abroad,  but  disease  had  taken  too  strong 
hold  upon  him,  and  he  returned  only  to  die,  surrounded  by  his 
family,  Nov.  if,  1856. 

He  was  a  man  who  never  knowingly  wronged  another,  but 
was  always  ready  with  hand,  purse,  or  brain  to  assist  those  in 
need  or  trouble, —  a  man  who  never  spared  himself  in  the  per- 
formance of  his  duties  nor  exacted  too  much  from  those  in  his 
employ.  He  left  behind  him  a  host  of  loving  and  devoted 
friends,  and  to  his  children  a  reputation  without  a  stain. 


BARZILLAI    FROST. 
1804  — 1838. 


BY   HIS    SON,    HENRY   W.    FROST,    OF   BOSTON. 


DETERMINED  to  have  a  liberal  education,  Barzillai  Frost 
made  his  way,  by  his  own  exertions,  from  Effingham,  a 
remote  little  town  in  New  Hampshire,  through  Phillips 
Academy  (Exeter)  and  Harvard  College.  The  two  years  fol- 
lowing graduation  were  passed  in  teaching  the  Framingham 
Academy.  He  then  returned  to  college  to  take  Prof.  Farrar's 
place  in  the  chair  of  mathematics  and  natural  philosophy,  while 
the  professor  sought  rest  in  Europe.  Mr.  Frost  at  this  time 
served  as  chairman  of  the  parietal  committee,  and  also  pursued 
his  studies  in  the  Divinity  School.  Feb.  1,  1837,  having  pre- 
viously declined  calls  from  Barnstable  and  Northfield,  he  was 
ordained  as  associate  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Society  in  Concord, 
Mass.,  as  colleague  of  the  venerable  Ezra  Ripley,  D.D.  (H.U., 
1776),  who  died  in  1841. 

Mr.  Frost  discharged  his  pastoral  duties  efficiently  and  ac- 
ceptably, and  made  himself  useful  as  a  citizen.  He  served  re- 
peatedly on  the  school  committee  and  as  curator  of  the  Lyceum 
to  provide  a  weekly  lecture  in  the  winter  months.  He  encour- 
aged horticulture  and  the  planting  of  shade  trees  along  the 
streets,  and  warmly  supported  the  temperance  and  antislavery 
causes.  The  summer  of  1843  he  spent  in  the  Western  States, 
preaching  in  St.  Louis,  Quincy,  Milwaukee,  Chicago,  and  other 
places. 

In  February,  1856,  a  severe  cold,  which  had  settled  on  his 
lungs,  drove  Mr.  Frost    to  the    West    Indies.      He  visited  St. 


40  BARZILLAI  FROST, 

Thomas  and  Santa  Cruz,  Jamaica  and  Cuba,  returning  by  way 
of  Charleston,  S.C.  The  next  autumn  he  felt  obliged  to  seek  a 
warm  climate  again,  and  he  returned  to  Santa  Cruz,  which  he 
had  liked  much  on  his  previous  visit.  There  he  passed  several 
months,  stopping  a  short  time  at  Bermuda  as  he  came  home. 
His  health  seemed  better,  and  he  thought  that  two  or  three 
winters  in  a  mild  climate,  which  should  be  more  bracing  than 
that  of  the  tropics,  might  restore  him  completely ;  but,  not  wish- 
ing to  trespass  on  the  kindness  of  his  parish,  he  resigned  his 
Concord  pastorate  Oct.  3,  1857,  receiving  substantial  expression 
of  his  people's  esteem  and  affection. 

Taking  his  wife  and  younger  son,  Mr.  Frost  sailed  for  Fayal 
in  November.  The  winter  there  proved  cool  and  damp,  and 
his  health  failed  steadily  until  there  was  no  doubt  that  consump- 
tion had  fastened  itself  upon  him.  He  reached  Concord  again 
in  August,  and  lingered  until  Dec.  8,  1858,  dying  at  the  age  of 
fifty-four  years  and  nearly  six  months,  his  birth  having  occurred 
June  18,  1804.  The  affectionate  attentions  of  his  family  and 
of  many  kind  friends  soothed  the  last  weary  weeks,  which  were 
passed  at  the  house  of  his  intimate  friend  and  physician,  Josiah 
Bartlett,  M.D.  (H.U.,  1816). 

Mr.  Frost  married,  June  1,  1837,  Elmira,  youngest  daughter 
of  Daniel  and  Sally  (Buckminster)  Stone,  of  Framingham.  She 
made  his  home  happy,  and  strengthened  his  influence  in  his 
parish  by  the  warm  regard  she  won  for  herself.  Their  two 
daughters  died  in  infancy.  A  son,  Alfred,  a  very  attractive 
boy,  died,  when  ten  years  old,  from  the  effects  of  a  fall  while 
climbing  a  mountain  in  Fayal  with  a  party  of  friends.  The 
eldest  child,  named  Henry  Walker,  for  a  classmate  of  his  father, 
graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1858,  and  is  a  lawyer  in 
Boston. 


HORATIO  SPRAGUE   EUSTIS. 
1811  — 1838. 


BY   HIS    CLASSMATE,  JOHN   O.    SARGENT,    OF   NEW   YORK. 


HORATIO  SPRAGUE  EUSTIS  died  at  his  plantation  in 
Issaquena  county,  Mississippi,  the  5th  of  September,  1858, 
aged  46  years.  He  was  a  son  of  Gen.  Abraham  Eustis 
(H.C.,  1804)  and  Rebecca  (Sprague)  Eustis,  and  was  born  at 
Fort  Adams,  Newport,  R.I.,  25th  of  December,  181 1.  He  was 
fitted  for  college  at  Round  Hill  School,  Northampton,  Mass., 
then  in  charge  of  Messrs.  Coggswell  and  Bancroft.  After  leav- 
ing college  he  studied  law,  went  to  the  West,  and  settled  at 
Natchez,  where  he  continued  to  practise  his  profession,  with  the 
exception  of  an  interval  of  a  year  or  two,  until  his  death.  He 
married,  10th  of  May,  1838,  Catharine,  daughter  of  Henry 
Chotard,  a  planter.  He  left  a  widow  and  ten  children,  —  seven 
sons    and    three  daughters. 

Eustis  is  still  remembered  by  his  surviving  classmates  as  a 
charming  companion,  an  ardent  friend,  and  a  gentleman  with 
many  chivalrous  elements  in  his  composition.  He  had  an 
orderly  and  logical  mind,  which  insured  him  the  success  that 
he  attained  in  his  brief  professional  career. 


HENRY   LINCOLN. 

1804.  — 1860. 


BY   HIS    WIFE,    MARTHA   LINCOLN,    OF    LANCASTER,    MASS. 


HENRY,  son  of  William  and  Tabitha  (Kendall)  Lincoln, 
was  born  at  Leominster,  Mass.,  Aug.  11,  1804;  fitted 
for  college  at  Groton,  Mass. ;  entered  Harvard  College 
in  1826,  and  graduated  with  his  class  in  1830. 

His  father,  thinking  a  collegiate  course  unnecessary  for  a 
farmer's  son,  the  son  was  unable  to  enter  until  he  attained  his 
majority,  and  was  obliged  for  the  same  reason  to  teach  during 
two  or  three  winters  of  his  stay  at  Cambridge.  Leaving  Cam- 
bridge in  1830,  and  deciding  on  the  study  of  medicine,  he  went 
to  Philadelphia  to  pursue  his  studies. 

From  early  in  1 83 1  to  Aug.,  1831,  he  was  a  private  student 
in  the  office  of  Dr.  Samuel  Jackson,  of  Philadelphia,  at  the 
same  time  attending  lectures  at  the  Medical  Institute  and  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania ;  from  the  latter  he  received  the 
degree  of  M.D.  in  the  spring  of  1834. 

While  in  Philadelphia,  in  addition  to  professional  studies,  he 
was,  from  the  fall  of  1830  to  the  spring  of  1832,  associated  with 
Levi  Fletcher  (H.C.,  1823)  in  the  charge  of  a  private  school, 
of  which  he  afterward,  until  1834,  had  sole  charge.  During  the 
terrible  cholera  epidemic  of  1832  in  Philadelphia,  he  served  as 
a  volunteer  in  the  hospitals.  To  quote  his  own  words:  "I 
decided  to  go  into  the  cholera  hospitals  as  it  was  a  chance  to 
gain  valuable  experience  and  be  very  useful  at  the  same  time. 
Men  were  needed  with  cool  heads,  and  the  more  medical 
knowledge  the  better.      I  knew  the  risk,  but  reasoned  if  I  died 


HENRY  LINCOLN.  43 

I  had  no  one    dependent  on  my  exertions  for  comfort  and  a 
home.     However,  I  got  through  all  right,  but  tired  out." 

Returning  to  Massachusetts  in  1834  the  young  physician 
taught  school  for  a  few  months  at  Sterling,  Mass.,  and  then 
entered  the  office  of  P.  T.  Kendall,  M.D.,  of  that  place,  to  be- 
come accustomed  to  a  country  practice. 

The  last  part  of  March,  1836,  Dr.  Lincoln  settled  at  Lancaster, 
Mass.,  and  there,  in  the  faithful  performance  of  the  duties  of  a 
country  physician,  carrying  comfort  to  the  bodies  and  minds  of 
his  patients,  rather  than  bringing  glory  or  profit  to  himself,  he 
finished  his  work  in  the  fall  of  1859,  and  his  life  (dying  of 
pulmonary  consumption)  Feb.  29,  i860.  Speaking  of  his  own 
life  but  a  few  days  before  its  close,  when  he  knew  it  would 
last  but  a  few  days  longer,  he  said,  "  I  cannot  recall  ever  having 
intentionally  wronged  any  man." 

How  sincere  was  the  mourning  for  him  among  those  who 
knew  him  best  may  be  seen  in  the  monument,  erected  with  the 
consent  of  his  family,  by  his  friends  and  townsmen,  over  the 
grave  of  Henry  Lincoln,  in  the  "North  Village"  Cemetery,  at 
Lancaster,  Mass. 

Never  holding  office,  save  in  connection  with  the  schools,  Dr. 
Lincoln  always  had  the  interests  of  his  town  at  heart,  and 
although  in  the  last  years  of  his  life  a  victim  of  deafness,  which 
made  conversation  with  strangers  somewhat  difficult,  he  always 
bore  his  full  share  of  social  and  public  duties.  Agriculture  in 
the  intervals  of  his  profession  was  his  delight  and  recreation, 
and  the  older  farmers  of  Lancaster  still  recall  the  rich  crops  he 
coaxed  from  the  somewhat  exhausted  farm  he  purchased  in 
1852,  —  crops  which  were  wonders  in  those  days,  showing  in 
the  pecuniary  results  the  correctness  of  the  views  on  scientific 
farming  advanced  by  Dr.  Lincoln,  at  first  somewhat  to  the 
amusement  of  his  neighbors  ;  views  the  correctness  of  which  are 
now  acknowledged  on  all  sides. 

Dr.  Lincoln  was  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical 
Society  and  of  the  Worcester  County  Medical  Society. 

February  14,  1838,  Henry  Lincoln  and  Martha,  daughter  of 
Moses  and  Lucy  (Bush)  Bond  of  Sterling,  Mass.,  were  married 
at  Sterling,  and  went  at  once  to  Lancaster,  where  Mrs.   Lincoln 


44  IN  MEMORIAM. 

still  lives.  Of  this  marriage  were  born,  Mary  Catharine 
Lincoln,  Jan.  31,  1840;  J  Ellen  Sears  Lincoln,  Sept.  27,  1841  ; 
1  William  Henry  Lincoln,  July  6,  1843;  Martha  Bond  Lincoln, 
Nov.  30,  1846;  Francis  Newhall  Lincoln  (H.U.,  1871 ),  May  16, 
1850;  Edward  Hartwell  Lincoln,  June  27,  1855. 

1  Deceased. 


JOHN    W.   BROWNE.1 
1810  — 1860. 


BY   HIS    FRIEND,    GOV.   JOHN   A.    ANDREW. 


JOHN  WHITE  BROWNE  was  born  at  Salem,  March  29, 
1 8 10,  and  at  the  time  of  his  death,  May  1,  i860,  had, 
therefore,  recently  completed  his  fiftieth  year.  He  was 
the  son  of  James  and  Lydia  (Vincent)  Browne,  and  his  father 
was  the  eldest  lineal  descendant  of  Elder  John  Browne,  the 
Ruling  Elder  of  the  First  Church  in  the  Colony  of  Massachu- 
setts Bay,  whose  appointment,  in  1660,  the  Rev.  John  Higginson 
made  a  condition  of  his  own  assumption  of  the  clerical  charge, 
and  who  is  probably  identical  with  John  Browne,  one  of  the 
Assistants  named  in  the  original  charter  of  the  colony  in  1628, 
who,  with  his  brother  Samuel,  was  banished  in  1629  for  a  sup- 
posed leaning  towards  Episcopacy,  but  returned  to  Salem 
after  an  interval  of  several  years,  which  were  passed  in  England 
and  Maryland. 

Few  persons  of  the  rare  qualities  of  intellect  which  our 
friend  possessed  by  nature,  and  of  so  precious  acquirements 
from  reading  and  reflection,  have  at  the  age  of  fifty  years  done 
less  than  he  to  attract  the  curiosity  or  the  attention  of  the 
public,  while  fewer  still,  of  whatever  capacity  or  culture,  have 
lived  more  useful  lives,  or  died  more  truly  loved,  respected, 
and  reverenced  by  those  to  whom  they  were  known.  The 
tribute  to  his  memory,  contained  in  the  discourse  of  his  friend, 
who,  of  all  the  tenants  of  the  pulpit,  was,  perhaps,  nearest  to  his 

1  From  "  In  Memoriam,  J.  W.  B.     Published  for  his  friends.     Boston,  i860." 


46  IN  MEMORIAM. 

heart,  leaves  less  to  be  added  than  might  otherwise  be  written  ; 
but  a  brief  and  simple  outline  of  some  of  the  principal  facts  of 
his  life  will  help  to  complete  the  record. 

Mr.  Browne  was  devoted  quite  early  to  one  of  the  learned 
professions.  He  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  Salem  Classical 
School  (the  first  classical  school  ever  established  in  New 
England),  under  the  care  of  masters  Theodore  Ames  and 
Henry  K.  Oliver.  He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1826,  and 
was  graduated  as  one  of  the  first  scholars  of  the  class  of  1830. 
That  class  numbered  among  its  members  the  late  Thomas 
Hopkinson,  a  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Charles  Sumner,  now  one  of  the  Senators  in 
Congress  from  that  State ;  and  during  the  whole  of  Mr. 
Browne's  collegiate  life  he  was  the  chum  of  one  or  the  other  of 
those  gentlemen.  After  graduation  he  commenced  the  study 
of  the  law  at  the  Law  School  connected  with  the  University, 
and  pursued  it  further  in  the  office  of  the  late  Rufus  Choate  at 
Salem.  After  the  removal  of  Mr.  Choate  to  Boston,  in  1832, 
he  became  a  student  with  the  late  Leverett  Saltonstall,  so 
many  years  the  president  and  leader  of  the  Essex  bar,  with 
whom  he  completed  his  novitiate  as  a  lawyer.  Those  who 
shared  the  intimate  confidence  of  Mr.  Browne  in  his  later 
years  will  remember  how  his  voice  and  eye  kindled  and 
warmed  whenever  he  spoke  of  these  and  of  some  other  friends 
of  his  earlier  manhood.  His  love  of  quiet,  patient,  truth-seek- 
ing pursuits,  —  of  that  search  for  knowledge  which  is  its  own 
reward, — must  have  made  this  period  of  study,  compared 
with  all  other  passages  of  his  life,  one  of  peculiar  happi- 
ness and  satisfaction ;  and  those  who  had  guided  or  befriended 
him  in  threading  his  way,  and  especially  such  as  had  then 
won  his  personal  affection,  were  cherished  and  remembered  by 
him  with  the  utmost  fidelity. 

After  his  admission  to  the  bar,  Mr.  Browne  became  resident 
at  Lynn,  and  began  there  the  practice  of  his  profession.  There 
he  continued  in  the  performance  of  its  ordinary  duties  until 
his  removal  to  Boston,  where  the  variety  and  extent  of  em- 
ployment affords  opportunity  for  subdivision  of  labor  and  for 
some  selection  on  the  part  of  the  practitioner.      Tn   Boston,  he 


JOHN   IV.  BROWNE.  47 

devoted  himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  department  of  con- 
veyancing and  to  office-practice,  avoiding,  except  at  rare  inter- 
vals, the  anxieties  and  excitements  of  the  court-room.  Not- 
withstanding a  singular  directness  and  clearness  of  vision,  a 
great  capacity  to  learn  and  to  remember  both  principles  and 
details,  a  perception  which  no  sophistry  could  deceive,  a 
power  of  discrimination  which  could  defy  every  difficulty  and 
entanglement,  a  style  of  writing  and  of  speech,  and  a  manner, 
voice,  and  temperament  all  fitted  for  the  eloquence  of  the  forum, 
a  moral  hesitation  was  from  the  first  always  in  the  way  of  his 
self-possession,  and  therefore  of  his  success  in  the  arena  of  the 
bar.  But  if  he  did  not  perfectly  succeed,  yet  he  never  failed. 
Whatever  forensic  task  he  undertook  he  accomplished  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  audience,  if  not  of  himself;  and  when  I  have 
contrasted  the  bold  nonsense  of  shallow  declaimers,  sometimes 
mistaken  for  argumentative  oratory,  and  often  winning  the 
crown,  with  the  crystal  reasoning,  simple  and  beautiful  state- 
ment, chaste  and  forcible  style,  of  John  W.  Browne,  as  I  have 
occasionally  heard  him,  and  when  I  have  seen  him  persistently 
avoiding  the  high  places  which  his  refined  morality  would  have 
purified  and  ennobled,  I  have  sometimes  felt  that  his  self-im- 
posed restraint  was  a  testimony  against  us  all. 

While  residing  at  Lynn  Mr.  Browne  represented  that  town 
in  the  Legislature  in  1837.  The  impression  which  he  made 
upon  his  associates  in  this  brief  and  youthful  connection  with 
public  and  political  affairs  was  such  that,  to  his  own  surprise, 
and  during  his  temporary  absence  from  the  State,  the  Whig 
Convention  of  Essex  County,  in  1838,  nominated  him  as  a 
candidate  for  the  Senate  of  the  Commonwealth.  But  the  con- 
fidence inspired  by  his  integrity,  and  the  respect  commanded 
by  his  talents,  were  unperceived  by  him  in  a  degree  hardly  to 
be  understood  in  the  instance  of  any  one  of  less  sensitive 
modesty.  His  strength  of  purpose  was  surpassed  only  by  the 
strength  of  his  convictions,  which  were  set  forth  in  the  letter  in 
which  he  declined  to  accept  the  nomination.  He  was  then 
but  twenty-eight  years  old.  He  had  a  career  before  him  in 
which  he  might  have  secured  distinction  as  a  public  man,  and 
have  been  no   less  useful  than  distinguished  ;    but  a  pure  heart, 


48  IN  MEMORIAM. 

simple  tastes,  and  a  modest  choice  of  a  position  in  life,  forbade 
an  encounter  with  the  bewilderments  and  the  possibilities  of 
moral  entanglement  and  mischance,  which  such  a  career  might 
involve. 

After  the  removal  of  Mr.  Browne's  office  to  Boston,  where  it 
remained"  until  his  death,  he  divided  his  residence  between 
Boston  and  Hingham,  which  town  was  the  birthplace  of  his 
wife,  Miss  Martha  A.  G.  Lincoln,  to  whom  he  was  married  in 
1842.  Their  only  child,  Laura,  was  born  in  1843.  To  Hing- 
ham our  friend  always  retreated  upon  the  approach  of  the 
summer  months  ;  and  the  delight  of  his  days  was,  there,  in  the 
peaceful  seclusion  of  that  quiet  and  ancient  town,  so  full  of  rural 
beauty,  to  indulge  his  love  of  Nature  and  her  works  and  ways. 
A  holiday,  the  remnant  of  an  afternoon,  an  hour  at  evening 
twilight  or  in  the  early  morning,  —  when  either  could  be  stolen 
from  sleep  or  withdrawn  from  care,  —  always  found  him  ab- 
sorbed in  the  full  happiness  which  he  nowhere  found  so  surely 
as  in  the  work  of  his  garden,  in  his  trees  and  flowers.  If 
through  his  father's  ancestry  he  inherited  the  rigorous  integrity 
of  the  Puritan  Elder,  so  from  the  Italian  blood,  which  also 
mingled  in  his  veins,  he  seemed  to  have  derived  the  instinctive 
perception  and  enjoyment  of  natural  beauty  so  characteristic 
of  the  people  of  Italy,  and  which  no  author  ever  appreciated  or 
delineated  more  finely  than  his  townsman,  Hawthorne. 

Although  not  affecting  general  society,  and  avoiding  so  much 
as  he  did  public  life  (under-estimating,  indeed,  his  own  capac- 
ity and  adaptation  for  social  and  for  public  uses),  Mr.  Browne 
was  no  recluse.  He  was  genial,  cordial,  and  good-humored. 
He  enjoyed  with  the  keenest  relish  his  talk  with  those  who  had 
anything  to  say  beyond  the  commonplaces  of  conversation. 
He  had  a  quick  eye  and  ear  for  innocent  mirth,  for  delicate  wit, 
and  for  a  good-natured  joke,  although  he  was  oftentimes 
singularly  obtuse  to  coarse  displays  of  humor.  He  entered 
with  the  warmest  sympathy  into  the  amusements  and  amenities 
of  his  social  circle,  with  the  cordiality  of  one  who  loved  the 
happiness  of  all,  and  whose  own  heart  was  light  with  innocence. 
Ill-health,  or  a  sensitive  nature,  or  both,  occasionally  gave  him 
an  air  of  weariness,   and   he  was  never,  perhaps,  distinguished 


JOHN    W.    BROWNE.  4!> 

for  that  flow  of  buoyant  spirits  which  comes  of  animal  vigor, 
great  hopefulness,  and  indifference  to  the  little  mishaps  of  life. 
Still,  he  never  spoke  of  any  private  grief,  and  never  obtruded 
on  his  friends  any  personal  unhappiness,  or  pain  of  mind  or 
body.  His  delicate  and  considerate  kindness  forbade  him  to 
share  his  own  private  burdens  with  others,  but  he  strengthened 
himself  and  lightened  his  load,  as  the  noble  unselfishness  of 
good  hearts  always  strives  to  do,  by  the  inspirations  of  sympathy 
with  others,  and  love  for  his  neighbor. 

For  twelve  or  fourteen  years  our  mutual  habit  of  residing  at 
Hingham  through  the  summer,  and  of  being  fellow-passengers 
on  the  steam-boat  plying  thither,  night  and  morning;  the  pur- 
suits which  we  had  in  common,  both  professional  and  otherwise  ; 
and  the  great  attraction  I  found  in  his  character,  and  the  charms 
of  his  refined  and  cultivated  understanding,  led  me  to  an  in- 
timacy of  acquaintance  with  him  such  as  I  think  has  never 
existed  between  myself  and  any  other  man.  It  is  this  which 
has  led  me  to  speak  of  him  now;  and  though  those  of  us  who 
were  in  the  near  presence  of  his  influence  may  never  realize 
more  keenly  than  at  this  moment,  when  the  turf  is  still  green 
over  his  head,  how  much  his  unselfish  example,  his  unbeclouded 
sense  of  Truth  and  Right,  and  his  unambitious  philosophy, 
made  him  to  us ;  yet  when  I  reflect  on  the  inadequacy  of  words 
to  portray  any  man,  and  on  my  own  unfitness  to  comprehend, 
even  more  to  describe,  this  one,  I  feel  that  those  who  knew  him 
will  scarcely  recognize  the  original,  and  that  those  who  did 
not  know  him  will  never  learn  much  of  him  from  what  is 
written. 

Perhaps  the  most  prominent  and  striking  feature  of  his 
moral  nature  was  his  genuine  honesty  with  himself.  If  he  was 
meek,  yet  he  was  terribly  bold  when  truth  demanded.  And  his 
courage  began  at  home.  He  always  accused  and  tried  himself 
before  he  denounced  any  other  man.  Hence  flowed  a  sense  of 
freedom,  —  a  self-emancipation, — which  liberated  him  from 
the  thousand  bonds  which  hamper  men  who  are  constrained  by 
the  necessities  of  pretence  and  sham.  This  also  cleared  his 
mental  vision  and  his  perception  of  moral  distinctions,  —  so 
that  he  walked  in  the  green  pastures  and  beside  the  still-waters 


50  IN  MEMORIAM. 

of   a    life    obedient    to    the  precepts  of  a  sincere  heart  and  a 
transparent  intellect. 

His  conversation  was  the  best  I  ever  heard.  It  was  above 
pretension.  It  was  not  ornate,  nor  brilliant,  nor  witty,  nor 
learned.  But  it  was  the  wisest  talk  coming  from  the  clearest 
insight  and  the  truest  purpose  to  know  the  Truth  and  to 
declare  it  simply.  It  was  not  narrow  nor  one-sided ;  but  cath- 
olic, generous,  comprehensive.  It  was  not  barbed  nor  paradox- 
ical, like  that  of  most  fine  talkers,  but  it  was  toned  down  to 
gentle  harmony  with  all  the  good  he  knew  or  believed,  and  was 
restrained  by  the  just  respect  he  felt  for  every  sincere  conviction 
of  others. 

He  was  not  a  man  of  extensive  reading,  —  not  a  cormorant 
of  books.  He  read  much  in  good  books,  not  from  curiosity, 
but  for  reflection ;  and  he  knew  the  best  thought  of  the  past 
and  of  his  own  time,  while  for  the  great  miscellaneous  mass  of 
literature  with  which  most  of  us  divert  ourselves  at  least  occa- 
sionally, he  had  no  taste;  and  he  spent  no  time  upon  it. 

In  religion  he  was  bound  by  no  formalities.  He  was  as  free 
in  his  creed  as  the  morning  bird  ;  but  he  was  guided  by  solemn 
convictions,  was  profoundly  devout,  and  lived  in  the  constant 
sense  of  the  providence  and  love  of  God. 

He  was  progressive  in  his  practical  philosophy,  —  not 
destructive,  but  hopeful  and  constructive.  He  could  not 
excuse  what  he  felt  to  be  wrong,  but  he  knew  how,  for  right- 
eousness' sake,  to  be  patient  with  the  wrong-doer.  But  when 
sometimes  the  pent-up  energies  of  his  emotion  burst  from 
restraint  under  the  pressure  of  the  sight  of  some  unwonted  or 
surprising  injustice,  his  words  would  fall  like  burning  stones 
from  volcanic  fires. 

As  a  lawyer  he  was  patient  and  faithful.  His  learning  was 
exact  and  symmetrical,  and  whenever  the  solid  ground  of 
established  principle  could  be  reached  his  judgment  was  as 
sound  as  his  logic  was  unerring.  In  artificial  rules,  not 
founded  on  apparent  reason,  he  had  little  interest,  and  an 
adjudication  of  the  law  against  natural  justice  he  regarded  as 
an  absolute  abomination. 

The  domestic  life  of  our  friend  it  is  not  for  any  one  to  pene- 


JOHN   W.    BROWNE.  51 

trate.  Those,  only,  who  in  losing  him  have  lost  husband,  father, 
or  brother,  can  nearest  realize  how  genuine  a  man  he  was.  In 
the  sacred  closeness  of  these  relations  he  found  the  most 
celestial  happiness  which  a  terrestrial  experience  can  know. 

A  noble  and  manly  life  has  closed  on  earth.  Its  last  few 
days  were  more  than  usually  serene  and  cheerful;  and  the  pre- 
vailing character  of  their  thoughts  and  aspirations  is  beautifully 
portrayed  in  the  following  lines,1  found  in  his  pocket-book 
after  his  death.  Less  than  a  week  before,  while  walking  with 
their  author  over  the  pasture-lands  around  his  native  town,  he 
had  repeated  them  with  a  fervor  and  pathos  which  will  live  in 
the  hearer's  memory  forever :  — 

Wilt  Thou  not  visit  me? 
The  plant  beside  me  feels  Thy  gentle  dew; 

And  every  blade  of  grass  I  see 
From  Thy  deep  earth  its  quickening  moisture  drew. 

Wilt  Thou  not  visit  me? 
Thy  morning  calls  on  me  with  cheering  tone ; 

And  every  hill  and  tree 
Lend  but  one  voice,  the  voice  of  Thee  alone. 

Come,  for  I  need  Thy  love 
More  than  the  flower  the  dew,  or  grass  the  rain; 

Come,  gently  as  Thy  holy  dove, 
And  let  me  in  Thy  sight  rejoice  to  live  again. 

I  will  not  hide  from  them 
When  Thy  storms  come,  though  fierce  may  be  their  wrath, 

But  bow  with  leafy  stem, 
And  strengthened,  follow  on  Thy  chosen  path. 

Yes,  Thou  wilt  visit  me ; 
Nor  plant  nor  tree  Thine  eye  delight  so  well 

As  when  from  sin  set  free 
My  spirit  loves  with  Thine  in  peace  to  dwell. 


1  From  "  Essays  and  Poems,"  by  Jones  Very.     Boston :  1839.    Page  175. 


52  IN  MEM  OR  I  AM. 


ANTI-SLAVERY    RESOLUTION   AND   EXTRACT   FROM   THE 
SPEECH    OF   WENDELL   PHILLIPS. 


In  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery  Convention  at  Boston, 
May  31,  i860,  the  following  resolution  was  adopted;  after  pre- 
senting which,  Mr.  Wendell  Phillips  made  the  remarks  which 
are  subjoined :  — 

Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  our  beloved  friend  and  fellow-laborer,  John 
W.  Browne,  the  anti-slavery  cause  has  lost  a  most  uncompromising  and 
devoted  friend,  —  one  who  gave  to  it  the  aid  of  strong  original  powers  and  the 
most  liberal  culture ;  the  example  of  a  life  of  rare  simplicity,  and  of  the  most 
scrupulous  and  delicate  conscientiousness,  —  a  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  and  a 
rigid  adherence  to  absolute  right  at  every  cost,  —  a  peculiar  sweetness  and 
openness  of  conduct,  which  won  the  attention  and  regard  of  those  who  most 
hated  his  opinions,  and  a  hand  only  too  generous  in  lavishing  aid  on  every 
applicant;  in  him,  the  cause  of  woman,  of  the  poor,  the  intemperate,  the  im- 
prisoned, and  of  the  slave,  lost  a  ripe  intellect,  a  brave,  loving,  and  religious 
spirit,  a  vigilant  and  untiring  friend,  —  one  who  spared  neither  time,  money, 
nor  effort,  and  in  the  path  of  duty  asked  no  counsel  of  expediency,  met  cheer- 
fully every  sacrifice,  paused  at  no  peril,  and  feared  not  the  face  of  man. 

Mr.  Chairman,  you  will  not,  of  course,  expect  me  —  no  one 
would  be  expected  —  to  analyze  a  near  friend  in  the  very  hour 
fae  dies.  That  would  be  a  'cold  heart,  fit  only  for  a  critic, 
who,  in  the  very  hour  that  he  lost  one  who  had  made  a  large 
share  of  his  life,  could  hold  him  off,  and  take  all  his  separate 
qualities  to  pieces,  and  paint  them  in  words.  We  are  too  near, 
we  love  too  much,  to  perform  such  an  office  to  each  other. 
Now,  at  least,  all  we  can  do  is  to  call  up  some  few  prominent 
traits  that  have  been  forced  upon  our  observation  as  we  walked 
side  by  side  with  those  who  have  worked  and  lived  with  us. 

Very  few  of  you  knew  that  most  efficient  friend  named  in  the 
resolution  I  have  read  ;  yet,  though  hidden,  he  was  no  slight  or 
trivial  servant  to  the  great  cause.  The  purest  of  all  human 
hearts,  —  but  not,  as  is  sometimes  the  case  with  that  rare  and 
childlike    simplicity,    a     merely    negative     character;     for    he 


JOH.V   IV.    BROIVXR.  53 

graduated  at  Harvard  in  the  same  class,  and  was  linked  as 
a  room-mate,  and  nearest  and  most  intimate  friend,  with  one 
whose  intellect  is  the  admiration  of  millions,  —  our  Senator, 
Mr.  Sumner;  and  he  was  thought  by  many,  indeed  by  most, 
of  those  who  stood  at  the  goal  of  collegiate  reputation,  the 
most  original  and  ablest  intellect  which  that  class  gave  to  the 
world.  In  the  bloom  of  youth,  in  the  freshness  of  a  rare  suc- 
cess in  his  profession,  he  placed  himself  on  this  platform  in  the 
mob  years  of  the  anti-slavery  enterprise,  when  to  speak  an  anti- 
slavery  word  was  starvation,  when  to  hold  up  an  anti-slavery 
banner  was  political  suicide.  Yet,  the  most  promising  lawyer 
in  the  county  of  Essex,  dowered  with  the  love  of  the  Whig 
party  of  that  county,  he  came  to  this  platform  with  that  uncon- 
scious fidelity  to  truth  which  is  incapable  of  asking  first  what  is 
expedient.  I  remember  well  what  checked  his  political  ad- 
vancement, and  it  suggests  one  of  the  great  comforts  in  this 
life  of  a  reformer.  After  all  the  seeming  sacrifices  (for  they 
are  only  seeming)  and  the  hard  struggles  which  are  said  to 
mark  our  lives,  we  are  the  happiest  of  the  human  race,  for  God 
gives  us  this,  the  greatest  of  all  rewards.  As  we  move  onward 
society  shapes  itself  according  to  our  ideas;  we  see  about  us 
the  growing  proof,  the  ever  fresh  and  green  evidence,  that  we 
were  right  ten  years  before.  Conservatism  creeps  on,  discon- 
tented, distrustful,  timid,  thinking  that  when  you  have  swept 
away  the  cobwebs  the  roof  is  coming  down,  sighing  for  the 
good  old  times,  anxious  to  hide  in  its  grave  from  the  ruin  and 
wickedness  it  sees  all  about ;  but  Reform  walks  onward,  its 
buoyant  forehead  lit  with  the  twilight  of  the  coming  day,  and 
crying,  "  All  hail !  my  brother !  I  saw  you  in  my  dreams ! 
Thank  God  that  he  gave  me  life  long  enough  to  see  you  set 
jocund  foot  on  the  misty   mountain-tops  of  the  morrow  !  " 

Leaving  politics,  Mr.  Browne,  with  his  characteristic  sim- 
plicity of  character  and  unconsciousness  of  talent,  deemed  him- 
self unfit  for  the  task  which  others  were  read)'  to  press  upon 
him.  He  said  to  me  once,  I  remember,  when  I  urged  him  to 
come  to  this  platform,  and  let  us  hear  again  the  voice  which 
had  delighted  us  so  often,  "I  ought  not  to  be  there;  there  is 
nothing  in  me  worthy  to  stand  there  ;    I   am  shamed  away  from 


54  IN  MEM  OKI  AM. 

such  a  post."  Yet  the  best  judge  in  New  England  called  him 
"  the  most  pregnant  talker  he  ever  met."  And  never  was  a  de- 
mand, of  whatever  character,  made  upon  him,  to  which  he  did 
not  respond  with  an  alacrity  and  efficiency  which  showed  how 
mistaken  was  his  own  judgment,  and  how  much  wiser  he  would 
have  been  to  have  yielded  to  our  entreaties,  and  have  led  where 
he  only  consented  to  follow. 

You  who  remember  him,  so  calm,  self-poised,  and  still  in 
manner,  speaking  in  measured  words,  one  by  one,  saw  only 
half  his  nature.  By  constitution  his  blood  was  lava,  and  his 
soul  thundered  and  lightened  at  the  sight  of  wrong,  especially 
at  any  meanly  base  act.  Indeed,  "  thunder  and  lightning  " 
was  the  pet  name  he  bore  among  his  classmates.  But,  side  by 
side  with  this  volcano  stood,  sleepless  and  watchful,  the  most 
delicate  and  scrupulous  conscientiousness,  —  too  delicate,  per- 
haps, for  daily  life.  When  plunged,  therefore,  into  our  fierce 
agitation  he  doubted  whether  he  was  justified  in  the  hot 
moments  and  floods  of  feeling  which  such  contention  let  loose 
on  his  spirit.  It  seemed  to  him  his  duty,  the  best  part  and 
purest,  to  keep  the  waters  of  his  life  calm  and  still  beneath  the 
stars  that  looked  into  their  depths.  Such  convictions,  how- 
ever, never  made  him  either  an  idler  or  a  neutral.  His  flag 
was  nailed  to  the  mast;  no  man  ever  mistook  his  position. 
Beneath  that  flag  was  so  high-souled  and  transparent  a  life 
that  none  could  hate  or  doubt  the  bearer.  His  professional 
skill,  the  very  best  our  bar  possessed,  was  freely  given  to 
every  poor  man.  Never  rich,  his  hand  was  ever  open.  No- 
where did  he  fear  the  face  of  man  ;  and,  as  much  as  our  nature 
can,  he  surely  kept  a  conscience  void  of  offence  towards  his 
fellows,  and  a  soul  pure  in  the  sight  of  God.  Patient  of  labor, 
in  that  little  heeded  and  hidden  toil  so  indispensable  to  every 
reform  he  was  ever  ready.  Many  of  us  stood  here  dowered 
with  the  result  of  his  toil ; '  many  of  us  brought  to  you  his  ripe 
thoughts,  which  his  own  lip  and  his  own  life  would  have  given 
so  much  better;  and  when  he  fell,  I,  for  one,  felt  lonelier  and 
weaker  in  my  place  in  this  world  and  its  battle.  There  are 
very  few  men  so  true  to  friendship,  so  loyal,  so  untiring,  that 
you    feel,  in   closing  your  eyes,    "  I  leave   one  behind    me  who 


JOHN    W.    BROWNE.  55 

will  see  that  over  my  grave  no  malicious  lie  goes  unrebuked, 
and  that  justice  is  done  to  my  intentions."  I  always  felt  that 
if  Providence  should  take  me  first,  there  was  a  voice  and  a 
hand  which  thirty  years  of  tried  and  stanch  friendship  would 
place  as  a  shelter  over  my  memory.  Would  to  God  I  could 
do  him  to-day  half  the  justice  that  his  sword  would  have 
leapt  from  its  scabbard  to  do  for  me ! 


REMARKS     BY  JAMES     DANA,   AT     A   MEETING   OF     THE     CLASS 

OF     183O. 


And  doubtless  unto  thee  is  given 

A  life  that  bears  immortal  fruit 
In  such  great  offices  as  suit 

The  full-grown  energies  of  heaven. 

But  thou  and  I  have  shaken  hands 

Till  growing  winters  lay  me  low; 
My  paths  are  in  the  fields  I  know, 

And  thine  in  undiscovered  lands. 


Tennyson. 


On  the  evening  of  Commencement  Day,  July  18,  i860,  after 
the  conclusion  of  the  exercises  at  Cambridge,  a  meeting  of  the 
class  of  1830  was  held  at  the  Tremont  House,  in  Boston,  when 
Mr.  Dana  made  the  subjoined  remarks :  — 

I  trust  that  some  of  the  class  will  give  us  information  of  the 
life  of  our  late  classmate  and  esteemed  and  lamented  friend, 
Browne. 

You  recollect  him  in  college  as  acknowledged  to  be  one  of  the 
most  able  and  talented  of  our  number.  You  recollect  the  deci- 
sion which  marked  his  character;  his  courage  and  daring;  his 
manly  bearing;  his  high  sense  of  honor,  and  his  impetuous 
temperament.  You  recollect  his  recitations  and  his  beautiful 
rendering  of  the  classics.     An  earnest  spirit  was  infused  into  all 


56  IN  MEMORIAM. 

he  said  or  did.  He  graduated,  as  you  know,  in  rank  very  near 
to  our  other  departed  friend  who  received  the  highest  honors 
of  the  class.1 

He  did  not  have  many  intimate  associates,  for  he  then  com- 
prehended the  true  aims  of  life,  and  was  a  diligent  general 
student,  as  well  as  faithful  in  the  college  course  of  study. 

Perhaps  he  was  not  popular,  in  the  college  sense  of  the  word  ; 
but  all  who  knew  him  respected  him. 

During  one  of  our  vacations  he  taught  school  in  my  native 
town  of  Groton,  and  then  I  had  the  pleasure  of  meeting  him  at 
my  father's  house.  He  told  me  that  he  found  teaching  a  village 
school  anything  but  congenial. 

After  we  graduated  I  did  not  meet  him  until  he  had  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  city  of 
Lynn,  in  what  is  known  as  the  Quaker  Village,  where  he  pos- 
sessed the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  citizens,  and  soon 
acquired  a  more  than  respectable  position  at  the  bar,  his  friends 
anticipating  a  brilliant  professional  career;  but  after  a  few  years 
I  heard  that  he  had  essentially  changed  his  views  of  life,  its 
duties  and  obligations,  and  had  decided  to  relinquish  the 
practice  of  his  profession. 

Some  time  afterward  he  resumed  practice  in  this  city,  and 
when  we  met  how  changed  from  what  he  was  in  college  !  His 
spirit  seemed  subdued  ;  he  was  modest  and  gentle  as  a  woman. 
His  manner  was  quiet,  sometimes  seeming  timid.  He  was  kind 
and  friendly.  We  had  little  political  sympathy,  but  that  did 
not  diminish  our  friendship,  and  he  greeted  me  almost  as  a 
brother.  We  frequently  met  in  our  professional  walks,  and  our 
association  was  most  agreeable. 

He  did  not  try  many  cases  before  juries.  He  was  quite 
equal  to  it;  but  he  did  not  find  the  sharp  and  sometimes  almost 
angry  conflicts  of  jury-trials  congenial  to  his  temperament.  He 
was  an  eminent  lawyer,  and  fitted  to  adorn  any  branch  of  his 
profession  ;  but  he  preferred  its  quiet  walks,  and  more  than  one 
of  his  clients  has  borne  witness  to  me  of  his  ability,  his  stern 
integrity,  and  his  fidelity  to  all  trusts   committed  to  him. 

'Judge  Thomas  Hopkinson,  deceased  1856. 


JOHN   W.    BROWNE.  0< 

REMARKS    BY    CHARLES    SUMNER. 
i860. 


II  n'v  a  que  les  grands  occurs  qui  sachent  combien  il  y  a  de  gloire  a  6tre 
bon.  Fenelon. 

I  should  feel  unhappy  if  this  little  book  of  tribute  to  my 
early  friend  were  allowed  to  appear  without  a  word  from  me. 
We  were  classmates  in  college,  and  for  two  out  of  the  four 
years  of  undergraduate  life  we  were  chums.  We  were  also 
together  in  the  Law  School.  Perhaps  no  person  now  alive 
knew  him  better  during  all  this  period.  Separated  afterwards 
by  the  occupations  of  the  world,  I  saw  him  only  at  intervals, 
though  our  friendship  continued  unbroken  to  the  end,  and  when 
we  met  it  was  always  with  the  warmth  and  confidence  of  our 
youthful  relations. 

Of  all  my  classmates  I  think  that  he  gave,  in  college,  the 
largest  promise  of  future  eminence,  mingled,  however,  with  an 
uncertainty  whether  the  waywardness  of  genius  might  not  be- 
tray him.  None  then  imagined  that  the  fiery  nature,  nursed 
upon  the  study  of  Byron,  and  delighting  always  to  talk  of  his 
poetry  and  life,  would  be  tamed  to  the  modest  ways  which  he 
afterward  adopted.  The  danger  seemed  to  be  that,  like  his 
prototype,  he  would  break  loose  from  social  life,  and  follow  the 
bent  of  a  lawless  ambition,  or  at  least  plunge  with  passion  into 
the  strifes  of  the  world.  His  earnestness  at  this  time  sometimes 
bordered  on  violence,  and  in  all  his  opinions  he  was  a  partisan. 
But  he  was  already  a  thinker  as  well  as  a  reader,  and  expressed 
himself  with  accuracy  and  sententious  force.  Voice  harmonizes 
with  character ;  and  his  then  was  too  apt  to  be  ungentle  and 
loud. 

They  who  have  only  known  him  latterly  will  be  surprised  at 
this  glimpse  of  him  in  early  life.  Indeed,  a  change  so  complete 
in  sentiment,  manner,  and  voice,  as  took  place  in  him,  I  have 
never  known.      It  seemed  like  one   of  those   instances   in  Chris- 


58  IN  MEMORIAM. 

tian  story  where  a  man  of  violence  is  softened  suddenly  into  a 
saintly  character.  I  do  not  exaggerate  in  the  least.  So  much 
have  I  been  impressed  by  it  at  times  that  I  could  hardly  believe 
in  his  personal  identity,  and  I  have  recalled  the  good  Fra  Cris- 
tofero,  in  the  exquisite  romance  of  "  Manzoni,"  to  prove  that  the 
simplest  life  of  unostentatious  goodness  may  succeed  to  a  youth 
hot  with  passion  of  all  kinds. 

To  me,  who  knew  him  so  well  in  his  other  moods,  it  was 
touching  in  the  extreme  to  note  this  change.  Listening  to  his 
voice,  now  so  gentle  and  low,  while  he  conversed  on  the  duties 
of  life,  and  with  perfect  simplicity  revealed  his  own  abnegation 
of  worldly  ambition,  I  have  been  filled  with  reverence.  At 
these  times  his  conversation  was  peculiar  and  instructive.  He 
had  thought  for  himself,  and  expressed  what  he  said  with  all  his 
native  force  refined  by  a  new-born  sweetness  of  soul,  which 
would  have  commended  sentiments  even  of  less  intrinsic  inter- 
est. I  saw  how,  in  the  purity  of  his  nature,  he  turned  aside 
from  riches  and  from  ambition  of  all  kinds,  and  contented  him- 
self with  a  tranquil  existence,  undisturbed  by  any  of  those 
temptations  which  promised  once  to  exercise  such  sway  over 
him.  But  his  opinions,  while  uttered  with  modesty,  were 
marked  by  the  hardihood  of  an  original  thinker,  showing  that 
in  him 

"  the  gods  had  joined 
The  mildest  manners  and  the  bravest  mind." 

His  early  renunciation  of  office,  —  opening  the  way  to  a 
tempting  political  career, — when  formally  tendered  to  him,  is 
almost  unique.  This  was  as  long  ago  as  1838,  while  he  was 
yet  a  young  man ;  and  here  his  sagacity  seemed  to  be  as 
remarkable  as  his  principles.  At  that  early  day,  when  the  two 
old  political  parties  had  been  little  criticised,  he  announced  that 
their  strife  was  "  occasional  and  temporary,  and  that  both  had 
forgotten  or  overlooked  the  great  principle  of  equal  liberty  for 
all,  upon  which  a  free  government  must  rest  as  its  only  true  and 
safe  basis."  He  then  proceeded  to  dissolve  his  connection  with 
parties,  in  words  worthy  of  perpetual  memory:  "I  disconnect 
myself   from   party,  "  he  said,  "  whose  iron  grasp  holds   hard 


JOHN   IV.   BROWNE.  59 

even  upon  the  least  of  us,  and  mean  in  my  little  sphere,  as  a 
private  individual,  to  serve  what  seems  to  me  the  cause  of  the 
country  and  humanity.  I  cannot  place  currency  above  liberty. 
I  cannot  place  money  above  man.  I  cannot  fight  heartily  for  the 
Whigs  and  against  their  opponents,  when  I  feel  that  whichever 
shall  be  the  victorious  party  the  claims  of  humanity  will  be 
forgotten  in  the  triumph,  and  that  the  rights  of  the  slave  may  be 
crushed  beneath  the  advancing  hosts  of  the  victors."  No 
better  words  than  these  have  been  uttered  in  our  political  his- 
tory. In  this  spirit,  and  with  his  unquestionable  abilities,  he 
might  well  have  acted  an  important  part  in  the  growing  conflict 
with  slavery.  But  his  love  of  retreat  grew  also,  and  he  shrank 
completely  from  all  the  activities  of  political  life.  There  was 
nothing  that  was  not  within  his  reach ;  but  he  could  not  be 
tempted. 

I  cannot  disguise  that  at  times  I  was  disposed  to  criticise 
this  retreat,  as  suggesting  too  closely  the  questionable  philoso- 
phy concentrated  in  the  phrase,  Bene  vixit  qui  bene  latnit. 
But  as  often  as  I  came  within  the  sphere  of  his  influence  and 
felt  the  simple  beauty  of  his  life,  —  while  I  saw  how  his  soul, 
like  the  sensitive  leaf,  closed  at  the  touch  of  the  world,  —  I  was 
willing  to  believe  that  he  had  chosen  wisely  for  himself,  or,  at 
all  events,  that  his  course  was  founded  on  a  system  deliberately 
adopted,  upon  which  even  an  early  friend  like  myself  must  not 
intrude.  Having  always  the  greatest  confidence  in  his  re- 
sources, intellectual  as  well  as  moral,  I  was  never  without  hope 
that  in  some  way  he  would  make  his  mark  upon  his  country  and 
his  age.  If  he  has  not  done  this  he  has  at  least  left  an  example 
precious  to  all  who  knew  him. 


THEODORE  W.    SNOW. 

18 1 0  —  1862. 


BY    HIS    WIFE,    SUSAN   F.   SNOW,  OF   JAMAICA   PLAIN,    MASS. 


THEODORE  WILLIAM  SNOW,  born  in  Boston,  Dec. 
20,  1 8 10;  died  at  Jamaica  Plain,  Nov.  I  (All-Saints-Day), 
1872. 
His  father,  Gideon  Snow,  was  an  early  and  very  honored 
merchant  of  Boston,  who  in  his  youth  was  intimate  in  the 
family  of  Washington  at  Mount  Vernon,  "  ever  a  welcome 
guest,"  as  one  of  the  descendants  expresses  it,  and  this  he 
always  held  as  a  family  honor.  On  his  mother's  side  he  be- 
longed to  the  Barrell  family. 

In  an  obituary  notice  voluntarily  contributed  at  the  time  of 
his  death  by  Rev.  Dr.  Knights,  he  says:  "Mr.  Snow  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Latin  School,  Boston ;  graduated  at  Harvard 
University,  A.D.  1830.  In  early  life  he  was  Unitarian  in  his 
theology,  but  soon  attached  himself  to  the  Episcopal  Church, 
and  became  an  earnest  champion  of  the  doctrines,  discipline, 
and  worship  of  that  Church.  He  was  a  scholarly  man;  full  of 
geniality;  a  thorough  hater  of  cant;  denounced  hypocrisy  with 
unsparing  severity,  and  sustained  the  right  against  all  oppres- 
sion in  defence  of  the  weak,  and  was  true  in  friendship  as  the 
needle  to  the  pole.  He  had  retired  from  the  active  duties 
of  the  ministry  on  account  of  a  throat  difficulty,  but  held  the 
office  of  the  Bishop's  chaplain  for  the  examination  of  can- 
didates for  Orders  by  appointment  of  Bishop  Eastburn.  Mr. 
Snow  was  the  last  clergyman   at  the  side  of  Bishop  Eastburn's 


THEODORE   IV.    SNOW.  61 

dying  bed,  read  the  "  commendatory  prayer,"  and  was  appointed 
one  of  the  executors  of  the  bishop's  will. 

He  was  one  of  six  classmates  of  Harvard  University  (one- 
eighth  of  the  class),  who  became  clergymen  of  the  Church. 
The  first  exercise  of  his  ministry  was  in  the  diocese  of  Con- 
necticut. In  1839  he  became  rector  of  Grace  Church,  New 
Bedford,  which  he  resigned  in  1841.  In  1843  he  became 
itinerant  missionary  in  the  southern  part  of  the  diocese  of 
Massachusetts,  and  inaugurated  a  church  at  Plymouth.  In  1847 
he  became  rector  of  St.  Thomas'  Church,  Taunton,  where  he 
labored  till  1855,  at  which  period  he  considered  himself  inca- 
pacitated for  further  pastoral  duty,  and  resigned  his  parish. 

A  memorial  window  in  the  new  St.  Thomas'  Church,  placed 
there  by  attached  parishioners,  consecrates  his  name. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Babcock  wrote  as  follows:  "Mr.  Snow,  without 
large  personal  ambitions,  had  qualities  of  mind  and  will  that 
could  have  lifted  him  to  almost  any  position  in  the  Church. 
He  was  a  scholar  in  all  classical  and  theological  lore,  thought 
deeply,  spoke  boldly,  acted  wisely,  feared  no  man,  sought  favor 
of  none.  But  for  a  bronchial  trouble  he  would  have  had  that 
eminence  in  the  councils  of  the  Church  that  had' secured  for 
him  a  name  among  our  most  distinguished  writers  and  preachers. 
Nor  is  this  said  as  mere  laudation.  The  writer  knew  him 
in  his  school-days,  his  college  career,  in  his  ministry,  in  his 
study,  in  his  household,  in  public  assemblies,  in  diocesan  con- 
ventions, in  the  socialities  of  life." 

It  seems  pleasant  to  close  with  these  few  lines  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Wildes,  and  thus  tell  the  story  of  his  life  in  the  words  of 
three  valued  friends  :  — 

THEODORE   WILLIAM   SNOW. 
{From  Church  and  State.) 

O  Friend  and  Brother  in  that  loved  estate 

Of  servants  for  the  sake  of  Christ  our  Lord  ! 
Scarce  spent  thy  prime,  yet  chosen  still  to  wait 

As  they  who  stand,  unfailing  their  reward; 
True-hearted  as  to  Christ,  so  in  the  tie 

That  binds  his  Brotherhood;  the  cheery  face, 
The  genial  hand-grasp,  and  the  easy  grace 

Of  gentleman —  not  less,  in  Christ's  employ, 


62  IN  MEMORIAM. 

These  consecrated,  serve  his  gracious  will  — 
These  thine,  O  friend  of  many  years  !  and  thine 

Bold  in  the  faith,  with  loving  deed  to  fill 
The  measure  of  thine  office.     Thus  I  twine 

My  wreath  memorial  mid  the  years'  decay 
And  trust  to  meet  thee  at  the  Eternal  Day. 


JOHN    ODIN. 
1808—  1864. 


BY   HIS    KINSMAN,    SAMUEL   F.    McCLEARY,    OF   BOSTON. 


JOHN  ODIN,  the  son  of  John  Odin  and  Harriet  Tyng  Wal- 
ter, was  born  in  Hanover  street,  Boston,  on  January 
16,  1808.  His  father  was  a  very  successful  merchant  of 
the  old  school,  and  his  mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
William  Walter,  D.D.,  who  was  rector  of  Christ  and  Trinity 
churches  in  Boston.  After  receiving  the  necessary  preliminary 
education  he  entered  the  Public  Latin  School  in  1820,  but  he 
was,  in  1822,  transferred  by  his  father  to  Phillips  Academy, 
Andover,  where  his  preparatory  collegiate  studies  were  com- 
pleted. He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1826,  and  was  gradu- 
ated in  1830. 

Upon  leaving  college  he  proposed  to  adopt  the  practice  of 
medicine  for  his  profession.  He  studied  with  the  late  John  C. 
Warren,  M.D.,  for  two  and  a  half  years,  and  received  his  medi- 
cal degree  from  Harvard  College  in  1833.  During  this  period 
he  joined  the  Independent  Company  of  Cadets,  and  was  made 
a  sergeant  of  corps.  Subsequently  he  was  appointed  surgeon 
of  the  Third  Regiment  of  Infantry.  In  1832  and  1833  he  was 
house  surgeon  in  the  Massachusetts  General  Hospital.  By_ 
attention  and  industry  he  soon  attracted  to  himself  a  large  num- 
ber of  patients,  and  became  a  very  successful  practitioner. 

His  nature  was  very  gentle  and  his  bearing  always  courteous. 
His  warm  sympathies  for  the  poor,  with  whom  he  was  brought 
often  into  contact,  led  him  to  take  so  deep  an  interest  in  the 
children  of  his  neighborhood   that  he  was    appointed    in  1841  a 


64  IN  MEMORIAM. 

member  of  the  Primary  School  Committee,  which  was  his  first 
introduction  into  public  life.  This  position  he  acceptably  filled 
until  1853.  In  1852  his  constituents  in  Ward  9  sent  him  to  the 
Common  Council,  to  which  office  he  was  again  chosen  in  1854. 
His  capacity  for  public  life  was  so  manifestly  conspicuous  that 
he  was  also  elected  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
in  1850,  and  again  in  185  1  and  1853.  In  his  public  career  he 
continued  to  exhibit  such  sympathy  and  interest  for  his  unfortu- 
nate fellow-citizens  in  poverty  and  distress  that  he  attracted  the 
attention  of  Governor  John  H.  Clifford,  who  appointed  him,  in 
1853,  one  of  the  Inspectors  of  the  State  Prison,  which  position 
he  occupied  for  two  years,  with  constant  and  earnest  fidelity. 

Dr.  Odin  made,  in  1842,  an  extended  journey  through  Europe 
for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  which  an  excessive  attention  to  his 
duties  had  seriously  impaired. 

In  1839  he  married  Ann  F.,  daughter  of  James  W.  Vose,  a 
well-known  merchant  of  this  city.  His  wife  died  July  19,  1850. 
Dr.  Odin  afterwards  married  Louise  Hayward,  another  daughter 
of  James  W.  Vose,  on  August  6,  185 1.  The  issue  of  these 
marriages  was  one  son  and  five  daughters.  Four  of  these 
children  died  quite  young,  and  two  daughters  only  now  survive 
(1883).  With  them  the  name  of  Odin,  distinguished  through 
four  generations,  will  be  extinct. 

Dr.  Odin  died  in  1864,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six. 


SAMUEL   PITTS. 
1810  — 1868. 


BY   DANIEL   GOODWIN,   JR.,    OF   CHICAGO,    WHO    MARRIED 
HIS    DAUGHTER. 


SAMUEL  PITTS  was  born  April  17,  18 10,  at  Fort  Preble, 
Me.  His  father  was  at  the  time  Major  of  the  United 
States  Light  Artillery,  and  in  command  of  Fort  Preble. 
Major  Pitts  was  called  away  from  his  wife  and  children  in 
1812,  to  take  part  in  the  war  with  England,  and  was  in  the 
battle  of  French  Mills,  Schuyler's  field,  and  in  many  of  the 
skirmishes  along  the  northern  frontier.  After  the  war,  Major 
Pitts  retired  from  the  army  and  spent  some  years  in  Augusta, 
Me.,  where  his  son  Samuel  attended  school.  He  then  ac- 
cepted an  appointment  in  the  custom-house  at  Boston  under 
Gen.  H.  A.  S.  Dearborn,  and  resided  at  Cambridgeport.  Here 
Samuel  Pitts  prepared  for  college,  and  lived  until  completing 
his  university  course  and  a  course  of  legal  instruction  under 
Judge  Story.  Soon  after  graduation  Mr.  Pitts  removed  to 
Detroit,  in  the  then  Territory  of  Michigan,  ajid  was  accom- 
panied by  his  classmate  and  intimate  friend,  Franklin  Sawyer. 
He  entered  the  law  office  of  Gen.  Charles  Larned,  and,  upon 
the  death  of  that  gentleman,  succeeded  to  his  business  and 
acted  as  his  executor  and  the  guardian  of  his  children.  He 
practised  law  for  about  twelve  years,  and  was  part  of  that  time 
in  partnership  with  John  G.  Atterbury,  and  was  at  times  asso- 
ciated with  Mr.  Sawyer  and  Jacob  M.  Howard,  afterward  LTnited 
States  senator.  Mr.  Pitts  was  an  ardent  Whig,  and  acted  as 
associate    editor    of   the    Detroit    Daily    Advertiser,    and    con- 


66  IN  MEMORIAM. 

tributed  with  pen  and  voice  to  the  success  of  his  party,  being 
for  two  years  its  leading  editorial  writer.  A  victim  to  dyspepsia 
and  hampered  by  constitutional  defect  of  hearing,  he  resolved, 
about  1843,  to  abandon  his  profession  for  more  active  pursuits, 
and  embarked  in  the  business  of  buying  pine  lands  and  manu- 
facturing lumber  and  salt.  His  first  efforts  were  discouraging, 
losing  his  mills  and  all  his  capital  by  fire.  His  friends  rallied 
to  his  assistance,  and  offered  him,  without  security  and  without 
interest,  all  the  capital  necessary  for  a  new  start,  and,  after 
years  of  vicissitudes,  he  triumphed  over  all  obstacles  and 
amassed  a  comfortable  fortune.  He  was  for  more  than  thirty 
years  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Detroit, 
and  continued  so  until  his  death,  in  1868.  His  pastor  for  most 
of  that  time  was  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  Duffield,  who  married 
Isabella  Graham  Bethune,  and  his  relations  with  and  assistance 
to  his  pastor  and  church  were  always  cordial  and  generous,  and 
his  general  benevolence  was  marked  and  untiring. 

Mr.  Pitts  married,  in  1836,  Sarah  Merrill,  daughter  of  Joshua 
Merrill  and  Elizabeth  Bradford,  the  last  named  being  a  descend- 
ant of  Governor  William  Bradford,  John  Alden,  and  Priscilla 
Mullins,  of  the  Mayflower. 

Mr.  Pitts'  American  ancestors  were  peculiarly  identified  with 
Harvard  University  and  Boston,  and  he  delighted  to  talk  about 
their  history.  His  great  grandfather,  James  Pitts,  was  a  gradu- 
ate in  the  class  of  1 73 1 ,  just  ninety-nine  years  before  him; 
was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the  King's  Council,  and  an 
ardent  patriot;  was  named  by  Franklin  in  conjunction  with 
Bowdoin,  Winthrop,  Cooper,  and  Chauncey,  as  the  only  men  to 
whom  the  Hutahinson  letters  should  be  exhibited.  He  was 
also  commended  by  John  Adams  to  General  Washington,  when 
Washington  first  went  to  Cambridge,  as  one  of  the  Bostonians 
"  whose  judgment  and  integrity  could  be  most  relied  on." 

His  brother,  Thomas  Pitts,  graduated  in  the  class  of  1726. 
His  son,  John  Pitts,  graduated  in  the  class  of  1757,  and  married 
the  only  child  of  Judge  Tyng,  who  graduated  in  the  class  of 
1725.  Another  son,  Lendall,  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  tea 
party  in  1773.  Mr.  James  Pitts'  wife,  Elizabeth,  was  a  sister  of 
Gov.  James  Bowdoin,  of  the  class  of  1745,  and  of  Win.  Bowdoin, 


SAMUEL   PITTS.  67 

of  the  class  of  1735.  Pitts  Hall,  of  the  class  of  1747,  was  a 
nephew  of  James  Pitts.  Lendall  Pitts  Cazeaux,  of  the  class  of 
1844,  was  a  descendant  of  Lendall  Pitts,  leader  of  the  tea  party. 
Robert  C.  Winthrop,  of  the  class  of  1828,  is  descended  from 
James  Bowdoin,  and  also  from  the  Lindalls. 

Mr.  Samuel  Pitts,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  left  one  son, 
Thomas,  of  Detroit,  and  four  daughters,  —  Julia,  who  married 
Thomas  Cranage,  of  Bay  City,  Mich. ;  Frances,  who  married 
Henry  M.  Duffield,  of  Detroit,  of  the  class  of  1861  of  Williams 
College;  Caroline,  who  married  Henry  B.  Brown,  of  Detroit,  of 
the  class  of  1856  of  Yale  College,  and  who  studied  law  at 
Harvard  in  the  class  of  i860;  Isabella,  who  married  Daniel 
Goodwin,  of  Chicago,  of  the  class  of  1852  of  Hamilton  College. 
There  are  now  living  eight  grandsons,  several  of  whom  intend 
to  graduate  at  Harvard,  and  two  grand-daughters. 

Mr.  Pitts  died  at  Detroit,  April  26,  1868,  after  enduring  many 
years  of  miserable  health,  but  having  accomplished  a  noble 
work  and  leaving  a  reputation  and  example  of  priceless  value 
to  his  family  and  relations,  and  of  great  benefit  to  the  public 
and  honorable  to  the  University,  which  he  loved  while  he  lived. 

In  person  he  was  above  the  medium  height,  and  had  a  stout 
and  erect  frame,  a  finely-shaped  head  with  curly  hair,  large 
and  expressive  blue  eyes,  and  a  rich  and  musical  voice.  His 
manners  were  cordial,  but  dignified.  He  was  a  fine  speaker,  a 
remarkably  good  reader,  and  his  conversation  was  full  of 
interest  to  all  who  were  capable  of  relishing  either  wit  or 
wisdom. 

Mr.  Pitts'  portrait  was  painted  in  oil  by  Cole,  of  Portland, 
and  by  Stanley,  of  Detroit,  and  a  life-size  crayon  made  by 
Frederick  E.  Wright,  of  Boston. 


JOSEPH    LYMAN. 
1*74. 


BY    C.  T.  B. 


FAVORED  through  life  with  Mr.  Lyman's  friendship,  we 
desire  to  add  our  tribute  of  respect  to  the  simple  an- 
nouncement of  his  decease.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of 
Judge  Lyman,  of  Northampton,  Mass.,  by  a  second  marriage. 
His  mother  was  a  daughter  of  Lieutenant-Governor  Robbins, 
of  our  State.  All  his  early  days  were  passed  at  his  own  home 
or  at  the  hospitable  residence  of  his  maternal  grandfather, 
Brush  Hill,  Milton.  He  prepared  for  college  at  the  celebrated 
Round-Hill  School  of  his  native  town,  and  under  the  special 
tutorship  of  Jonathan  Chapman,  afterwards  mayor  of  Boston. 
He  entered  Harvard  at  the  age  of  fourteen,  a  bright  and  beauti- 
ful boy,  of  genial  spirit  and  gracious  manners,  and  with  bound- 
less buoyancy  and  irrepressible  activity,  auguring  a  much  busier 
career  than  that  which  awaited  him  under  the  Divine  Providence. 
Graduating  in  1830,  a  good  scholar  of  a  distinguished  class, 
our  young  friend  entered  the  Cambridge  Law  School.  Early 
in  his  second  year  at  this  school  he  was  thrown  from  a  chaise, 
and  sustained  internal  injuries  which  consigned  him  for  several 
months  to  the  hospital,  and  subsequently  withdrew  him  alto- 
gether from  the  scenes  of  active  life.  His  law  studies  were 
finished  in  the  office  of  the  late  Charles  G.  Loring.  He  em- 
barked in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  first  as  an  associate 
with  William  Emerson,  in  New  York,  and  next  in  his  own  name, 
alone,  in  our  city.  Both  terms  were  brief.  Greater  activity 
and   a  wider  sphere   appeared   to   offer  themselves   in   agencies 


JOSEPH   LYMAN.  (It) 

among  the  pine  forests  of  Georgia  and  Florida  or  the  coal-fields 
of  Pennsylvania  or  the  great  West.      Health  and  strength  con- 
tinued,   however,    to    fail,    and    eventually   constrained    him    to 
retreat  to  the  solitude  of  a  sick-chamber.     Before  wholly  retir- 
ing to   it  he   gave  three   years   to   the   interests    of  freedom    in 
Kansas  and  three  more  to  the  preparation  of  Theodore  Parker's 
writings,  after  his  death,  for  the  press;   six  years  of  application, 
industry,  and  faithfulness,  triumphant  over  every  infirmity,  and 
pregnant  with   a   spirit  above   all    self-seeking    aims.     The   re- 
mainder of  his  days  were   to  wear   away  in   seclusion   from  the 
world.      His  books  became  his  chief,  his  constant  companions. 
His  selection  of  them  was   dictated   by  the  drift  of  contempo- 
raneous  history.     A  revolution  in  France,  a  revolt  in   India,  a 
struggle   between    powers    abroad    or  parties    at   home,  would 
gather  the   papers,   the  volumes,  the  charts   connected  with   it 
before   him,   and   diligently  would  he   draw  from   them  all   the 
information  he  required  or  they  possessed.      His  favorite  studies 
were  those  of  social  science  in  all  its  departments.      Long  before 
our  community  was  accustomed  to    its  name,   Mr.  Lyman  had 
proved  himself  one  of  its  most  devoted  and  successful  votaries. 
Every  one  seeking  him  in  his  seclusion  was  struck  with  his  fresh 
familiarity  with  passing   events  and  his  complete  command  of 
any  field  whereon  human  interests  were  for  the  hour  at  stake. 
In  England,  upon  one  of  his  repeated  visits  to  the  Old  World 
in  behalf  of  the  enterprises  of  the  New,  he  purchased  a  full  set 
of  Hansard's   parliamentary  debates,  and  was   ever   after  mofe 
conversant  with  their  contents,  probably,  than  any  other  Ameri- 
can reader.      He  found  his  return  in  the  light  which  they  shed 
upon  many  of  the  most  momentous  questions  and  movements 
of  the  age    in    our  own   country  or   over  the  whole  globe,   as 
well  as   in    Great  Britain.     He   prized   such  volumes   as   he  did 
his  law-books,  always,  for  their  clear  statements,  careful  reason- 
ing, and   definite  decisions,  —  qualities  pervading  all   his    own 
reading,   research,  and    conclusions.     Thorough,  exact,  honest 
himself,  he   could   not   tolerate   anything   else,   anything  less  in 
books  or  in  men.     Few  ever  read  men  or  books  to  a  better  end. 
Conscious  of  the  destiny,  hopeful  of  the  fortunes  of  our  republic, 
to  him  free  inquiry,  free  thought,   free  speech,  and  free  action 


70  IN  MEMORTAM. 

were  of  primal  importance.  And  next  in  his  scale  of  our 
country's  requirements  stood  education.  Teachers  were  his 
most  welcome  guests.  He  listened  gladly  to  whatever  they 
could  report  of  the  progress  or  the  improvement  of  their  schools 
or  their  pupils,  and  was  ever  ready  with  encouragement,  advice, 
suggestions,  or  any  aid  in  his  power  to  give.  His  sympathies, 
strong  from  the  first  and  strengthened  by  his  own  sufferings, 
made  him  swift  to  feel  for  and  sure  to  cheer  and  sustain  others 
in  their  trials.  Friendliness  was  a  marked  feature  of  his  char- 
acter. No  living  friend  was  at  any  time  forgotten.  None  of 
the  proofs  of  their  remembrance  of  him,  however  trivial,  were 
received  without  emotion.  While  it  was  his  delight  to  relieve 
his  solitary  hours  with  recollections  of  departed  ones,  like 
Charles  C.  Emerson,  of  his  college  days,  their  spirits  still  at- 
tended his  steps  below,  and  awaited,  he  hoped,  his  reunion 
with  them  on  high.  He  treated  all  around  him  here,  however 
humble  their  sphere  might  be,  with  consideration  and  kindness, 
awakening  their  respect  and  affection  in  return.  He  never  for- 
got the  old-school  manners  of  his  early  days,  or  failed  to  display, 
in  public  or  private,  the  courtesy  of  a  Christian  gentleman. 

Patient,  uncomplaining,  cheerful  even,  under  all  his  discipline, 
he  reposed  confidingly  in  the  consciousness  of  the  goodness  of 
God.  "  It  pleases  him,  —  it  shall  please  me  too,"  was  his  filial 
feeling;  and,  as  the  sun,  after  a  clouded  day,  smiled  upon  the 
rural  cemetery  where  we  mingled  his  ashes  with  his  mother's 
steeping  form,  was  it  not  an  omen  that,  for  him,  too,  the  veil 
was  lifted  and  the  light  was  shining  that  knows  no  shading? 
Milton's  words,  "  They  also  serve  who  only  stand  and  wait," 
were  often  upon  his  lips.  Earnestly  he  yearned,  faithfully  he 
sought,  to  render  them  true  of  himself.  The  wish,  the  prayer, 
the  aim,  were  not  in  vain.  His,  we  trust,  was  the  recompense 
of  a  well-ordered,  well-spent  life,  well  ended  now.  Mr.  Lyman 
married  Susan  Bulfinch,  daughter  of  Joseph  Coolidge,  of 
Boston.  Two  adopted  daughters  share  in  her  bereavement. 
No  children  were  ever  blessed  with  a  better  father.  Equally 
tender  and  true  was  he  likewise  to  all  who  found  his  house  their 
home. 


RICHARD   P.  JENKS. 

1806  — 1872. 


BY    HIS    FRIEND,   REV.    EDGAR   BUCKINGHAM. 


RICHARD  PULLING  JENKS  was  born  at  Salem,  Mass., 
June  22,  1806.  He  was  the  son  of  John  and  Annis 
(Pulling)  Jenks.  His  parents,  during  his  childhood, 
were  in  wealthy  circumstances.  His  father  was  engaged  in 
commerce  with  French  and  English  ports,  and  he  was  the  only 
merchant  at  that  time  in  Salem  engaged  in  importing  from 
France  and  England.  His  dwelling-house  was  connected  with 
a  large,  fine  garden,  which,  for  a  long  time,  was  the  pride  of 
neighbors  and  friends,  and  in  it  Richard  acquired  a  taste  and 
skill  in  horticulture,  which  to  the  last  remained  as  one  of  his 
greatest  pleasures. 

Early  in  Richard's  boyhood  his  father  lost  his  property,  and 
soon  after  died.  In  consequence  Richard  was  obliged  to  give 
up  his  studies,  which  he  had  been  pursuing  in  preparation  for 
college,  and  took  a  place  in  a  store.  After  a  few  years  one  of 
his  relatives  supplied  him  with  the  means  of  entering  Harvard 
College.  After  his  graduation  he  went  immediately  to  New 
York  and  opened  a  private  school,  intending,  after  securing 
sufficient  means,  to  undertake  the  study  of  medicine,  which  was 
the  profession  of  his  choice.  Circumstances  altered  his  deter- 
mination. In  1833,  his  health  failing,  he  made  a  voyage  to 
India,  and,  on  his  return,  made  another  to  the  same  country. 
In  1837  he  renewed  his  labors  as  a  teacher.  He  was  successful 
and  happy  in  his  profession.  Sons  of  several  men  of  the  high- 
est literary  and  mercantile  professions  were  committed  to  his 


72  IN  MEMORIAM. 

charge,  and  in  course  of  time  sons  of  his  earlier  pupils  were  also 
committed  to  him.  In  1863,  during  the  draft  riots  in  New- 
York,  the  block  of  buildings  in  which  his  school  was  situated 
was  burned,  and  he  lost  his  household  and  school  furniture  and 
a  library  of  some  thousands  of  volumns.  The  city  refusing  to 
pay  for  damages,  Mr.  Jenks  instituted  a  suit,  and  recovered  the 
whole  of  his  demand.  The  lawyer  who  managed  the  suit  for 
the  city  complimented  Mr.  Jenks  by  saying  it  was  a  wholly 
honest  suit,  and  the  only  wholly  honest  demand  he  had  known. 
Mr.  Jenks  immediately  resumed  his  profession  as  a  teacher. 
In  1868,  owing  to  a  failure  in  health,  he  withdrew  from  New 
York  and  established  himself  in  Deerfield,  Mass.,  where  he  con- 
tinued with  private  scholars  from  New  York  till  his  death,  in 
1872.  In  1840  he  married  Miss  Hannah  Barnard,  of  Deerfield. 
He  had  three  children  ;  the  oldest,  John  W.,  graduate  of  Colum- 
bia College,  died  in  1861,  in  consequence  of  exposure  during 
the  war  of  the  secession.  His  daughter,  Mary  O.,  grew  up  to 
a  beautiful  womanhood,  and  died,  after  long  suffering,  six 
months  before  her  father.  His  second  son,  Louis  G.,  after  a 
mercantile  career  in  New  York,  began  to  lose  his  health,  and 
took  a  ranche  in  Nebraska,  where  he  still  remains.  The  widow 
resides  in  Deerfield. 

We  should  state,  what  we  have  omitted  to  mention,  that  Mr. 
Jenks'  grandfather,  Capt.  John  Pulling,  was  in  Boston  on  the 
evening  before  the  battle  of  Lexington,  and  he  it  was  who,  with 
his  own  hands,  hung  out  the  lantern  from  the  church-tower 
which  signalled  to  Paul  Revere  the  beginning  of  the  movement 
of  the  British  troops,  and  started  him  upon  that  celebrated  ride 
of  patriotism  the  immediate  success  of  which  foreboded  the 
downfall  of  the  empire  of  George  the  Third  over  the  United 
Colonies  of  America. 


SAMUEL   B.    BABCOCK. 

1807  —  1873. 


BY   HIS    BROTHER,    WILLIAM    G.    BABCOCK,    OF   BOSTON. 


SAMUEL    BRAZER    BABCOCK  was    the    oldest  son    of 
Samuel    Howe    and    Eliza    (Brazer)    Babcock,    born    in 
Milton,    Mass.,   Sept.    14,    1807,    and  died    in    October, 
1873.      He  was   educated   at  Milton  Academy;    English   High 
School,  Boston;   at  Claremont,  N.H.,  with  Rev.  Mr.  Howe,  an 
Episcopal  rector,  and  at  Harvard  University. 

A  graduate  of  1830,  he  studied  theology  with  Revs.  Alonzo 
Potter,  Thos.  W.  Coit,  and  John  H.  Hopkins,  and  became 
minister  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Dedham,  in  1833.  He  was 
married,  in  1832,  to  Miss  Emmeline  Foxcroft,  who  survived  him. 
In  1870  he  received  from  Columbia  College,  N.Y.,  and  also 
from  Griswold  College,  Iowa,  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity. 

His  characteristics  were  cheerfulness,  conscientiousness,  and 
constancy.  His  intellectual  faculties  were  varied,  bright,  and 
active.  His  industry  was  indefatigable.  His  heart  was  thor- 
oughly imbued  with  professional  zeal.  He  was  the  beloved 
pastor  of  the  same  church  for  nearly  fifty  years,  building  it  up 
from  a  mere  fossil ;  not  discouraged  by  opposition  nor  by 
calamity.  The  beautiful  temple,  which,  after  twelve  years  of 
fidelity,  succeeded  the  old  building  of  1770,  was  destroyed  by 
fire ;  but  the  glory  of  the  one  immediately  erected  upon  its 
ruins  exceeded  that  of  the  former.  Besides  his  remarkable 
allegiance  to  his  church  and  the  diocese,  especially  to  the 
Society  for  the  Relief  of  Aged  and  Indigent  Clergymen,  he  was 
an  affectionate  husband,  a  pleasant  neighbor,  a  cultivator  of  the 


74  IN  MEMORIAM. 

soil,  an  active  promoter  of  public  schools,  and  a  highly  esteemed 
citizen. 

Our  alma  mater  may  reckon  him  among  her  faithful  and 
deserving  sons. 

Although  he  and  his  wife  were  not  parents,  succeeding 
generations  have  risen  to  call  them  blessed. 


ALBERT   CLARKE   PATTERSON. 
1809  — 1874- 


BY   HIS    SON,    GEO.    HERBERT    PATTERSON,    OF   PROVIDENCE,  R.I. 


ALBERT  CLARKE  PATTERSON  was  born  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  June  13,  1809,  the  sixth  child  and  third  son  of 
Enoch  and  Mary  (Adams)  Patterson. 

The  boy  showed  such  aptitude  for  study  that  he  was  per- 
mitted to  enter  the  Boston  Latin  School  in  1822,  the  same  year 
with  Geo.  S.  Hillard,  N.  B.  Shurtleff,  and  Wendell  Phillips. 
On  completing  the  course  he  was  the  happy  recipient  of  a 
Franklin  medal. 

Becoming  a  member  of  the  Harvard  class  of  1830  his  scholar- 
ship secured  his  election,  in  due  course,  into  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa,  and  he  had  a  part  at  Commencement.  His  personal 
intimacies  may  be  inferred  from  the  style  of  his  room-mates, 
Charles   Sumner  and    Samuel  Brazer  Babcock. 

Immediately  on  graduation  Mr.  Patterson  entered  the  Harvard 
Divinity  School,  and  during  his  three  years  there  enjoyed  the 
particular  friendship  of  Mr.  Greenwood,  pastor  of  King's 
Chapel,  Boston,  to  the  degree  of  being  often  employed  to  assist 
him  in  his  services.  He  was  also  a  great  favorite  with  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Henry  Ware. 

In  1833  he  became  the  pastor  of  the  First  Unitarian  Society, 
of  Buffalo,  N.Y.,  and  there  had  in  his  congregation  such  notable 
men  of  the  day  as  Millard  Fillmore,  Nathaniel  K.  Hall,  and  Noah 
Paul  Sprague.  In  1837  ^r-  Patterson  resigned  his  pastorate 
and  returned  to  Cambridge  to  pursue  certain  special  theological 
studies,   which    resulted   in   his   retirement  from    the   Unitarian 


76  IN  MEM  OKI  AM. 

ministry  and  in  his  application  for  Orders  in  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church. 

He  was  ordained  deacon  by  Bishop  Griswold,  in  Trinity 
Church,  Boston,  and  was  called  to  the  first  rectorship  of  Grace 
Church,  Utica,  N.Y.,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1839.  Failing  health 
compelled  him  to  resign  his  parish,  Feb.  27,  1843,  and  to  devote 
a  year  to  convalescence  at  the  South  and  elsewhere. 

In  1844  he  became  assistant  minister  of  St.  Matthew's 
Church,  Jersey  City,  N.J.,  whence  he  was  transferred  to  the 
rectorship  of  Grace  Church,  Van  Norst,  now  a  part  of  Jersey 
City,   on   its   organization   as   a  parish. 

Unstable  health  compelled  a  change  of  climate  and  a  return 
to  the  vicinity  of  Boston.  Bishop  Eastburne  appointed  him 
"  Missionary  of  Boston  and  vicinity,"  and,  while  residing  at 
Dedham,  Mass.,  his  first  work  was  the  organization  of  the  very 
successful  parish  of  Christ  Church,  Waltham,  Mass.,  of  which 
he  declined  the  rectorship. 

In  1 85 1  Mr.  Patterson  become  the  rector  of  St.  James 
Church,  Skaneateles,  N.Y.,  when  he  removed  to  Buffalo  in 
1859,  to  assume  the  rectorship  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascen- 
sion. Two  years  later  he  returned  to  the  vicinity  of  Boston, 
becoming  rector  of  St.  Mark's  Church,  Southborough,  Mass. 

In  1864  he  removed  to  Forest  Hills,  Norfolk  county,  Mass., 
residing  there  without  a  parochial  cure  till  1869,  when  he 
again  took  up  his  residence  in  Buffalo,  N.Y.  He  died  in  the 
latter  city  on  the  21st  of  October,  1874. 

Mr.  Patterson  was  a  man  of  pronounced  scholarly  and 
artistic  tastes,  with  a  special  bent  for  history  and  architecture. 
His  skill  in  the  latter  department  of  art  found  ready  acknowl- 
edgment in  the  erection,  enlargement,  and  decoration  of  the 
churches  of  which  he  became  rector. 

Music  was  a  life-long  passion,  and  found  gratification  at 
college  in  the  direction  of  the  chapel  music.  He  was  leader  of 
the  Glee  Club  on  the  occasion  of  Gen.  Jackson's  visit  to  Har- 
vard College. 

Historical  studies  took  Mr.  Patterson  specially  into  the 
domain  of  Scottish  ecclesiastical  history,  in  which  depart- 
ment he  left  a  large  and  carefully  selected  library.      He  was  an 


ALBERT   CLARKE  PATTERSON.  11 

enthusiastic  member  of  the  New  England  Historic  Genealogical 
Society. 

The  duties  of  a  parish  priest  naturally  limited  the  freedom 
with  which  Mr.  Patterson  could  indulge  his  tastes  outside  the 
line  of  his  special  vocation.  In  his  parochial  ministrations  he 
enjoyed  the  hearty  and  cordial  affection  of  his  people,  and  his 
rectorships  have  been  honored  by  certain  personal  comments 
of  old-time  parishioners  which  befit  rather  the  intimacies  of 
personal  life  than  the  pages  of  a  memoir  for  publication. 

Mr.  Patterson's  appearance  was  a  very  fair  indication  of  his 
character.  A  spare  form,  of  medium  height,  with  the  student's 
inclination  of  shoulder,  was  graced  by  a  head  of  decidedly 
intellectual  contour,  and  a  face  expressive  of  intelligence, 
refinement,  cultivation. 

On  the  7th  of  January,  1836,  Mr.  Patterson  married  Miss 
Juliet  Content  Rathbone,  the  fifth  child  and  second  daughter  of 
Samuel  Rathbone,  Esq.,  of  Buffalo,  N.Y.,  who  survives  him,  as 
also  an  only  son,  the  Rev.  Geo.  Herbert  Patterson,  rector  of 
the  Berkeley  School,  Providence,  R.I.  An  only  daughter,  Juliet 
Clary  Patterson,  died  Aug.  3,  1864. 

Mr.  Patterson  was  a  brother  of  the  late  Enoch  Patterson, 
Esq.,  of  the  firm  of  Blake,  Patterson,  &  Co. ;  and  of  the  late 
Joseph  VV.  Patterson,  of  the  firm  of  Almy,  Patterson,  &  Co., 
Boston  and  New  York.  Three  sisters  survive  him  and  reside 
in  Boston. 


CHARLES    SUMNER. 
1811  — 1874. 


BY   ROBERT   CARTER  —  FROM    "  APPLETON'S    CYCLOPEDIA." 


CHARLES  SUMNER  was  born  in   Boston,  Mass.,  January 
6,  181 1  ;   died  in  Washington,  D.C.,    March    11,    1874. 
His  father,  who  died  in  1839,  was  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard College,    a  lawyer,  and    for    fourteen  years  high-sheriff  of 
the  county   of  Suffolk.     The   son   received  his  early   education 
at  the  Boston  Latin  School. 

He  was  appointed  reporter  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United 
States,  in  which  capacity  he  published  three  volumes,  known  as 
"  Sumner's  Reports,"  containing  decisions  of  Judge  Story.  He 
also,  at  the  same  time,  edited  the  American  Jurist,  a  quarterly 
law  journal  of  high  reputation.  During  the  first  three  winters 
after  his  admission  to  the  bar,  while  Judge  Story  was  absent  in 
Washington,  Mr.  Sumner  was  appointed  lecturer  to  the  law 
students,  and  part  of  the  time  he  had  sole  charge  of  the  school, 
His  favorite  topics  were  those  relating  to  constitutional  law  and 
the  law  of  nations. 

He  visited  Europe  in  1837,  travelled  in  Italy,  Germany,  and 
France,  and  resided  for  nearly  a  year  in  England.  He  carried 
to  England  a  letter  of  introduction  from  Judge  Story,  in  which 
he  was  described  as  "  a  young  lawyer  giving  promise  of  the 
most  eminent  distinction  in  his  profession,  with  truly  extraordi- 
nary attainments,  literary  and  judicial,  and  a  gentleman  of  the 
highest  purity  and  propriety  of  character."  He  was  received 
with  unusual  distinction  in  the  highest  circles;  was  introduced 
by  eminent  statesmen  on  the  floor  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament, 


CHARLES  SUMNER.  79 

and  invited  by  the  Judges  to  sit  with  them  in  Westminster 
Hall. 

He  returned  to  Boston  in  1840,  and  in  1844-6  published  an 
elaborate  edition  with  annotations  of  "  Vesey's  Reports,"  in 
twenty  volumes.  Though  voting  with  the  Whig  party,  he  took 
no  active  part  in  politics  till  1845,  when,  on  the  4th  of  July,  he 
pronounced  before  the  municipal  authorities  of  Boston  an 
oration  on  "The  True  Grandeur  of  Nations,"  in  which,  prompted 
by  the  menacing  aspect  of  affairs  between  the  United  States  and 
Mexico,  he  denounced  the  war  system  as  the  ordeal  by  battle 
still  unwisely  continued  by  international  law  as  the  arbiter  of 
justice  between  nations,  and  insisted  that  this  system  ought  to 
give  way  to  peaceful  arbitration  for  the  adjudication  of  interna- 
tional questions.  His  oration  attracted  unusual  attention,  led  to 
much  controversy,  and  was  widely  circulated  both  in  America 
and  in  Europe.  It  was  followed  by  a  rapid  succession  of  public 
addresses  on  kindred  themes,  which  were  also  widely  circulated. 
Mr.  Sumner  earnestly  engaged  in  the  opposition  to  the  annexa- 
tion of  Texas,  on  the  ground  of  slavery.  In  1846  he  made  an 
address  to  the  Whig  State  Convention  of  Massachusetts,  on 
"  The  Anti-Slavery  Duties  of  the  Whig  Party,"  and  shortly 
afterward  published  a  letter  of  rebuke  to  Hon.  Robert  C.  Win- 
throp,  who  then  represented  Boston  in  Congress,  for  his  vote  in 
favor  of  the  war  with  Mexico.  These  steps  led  eventually  to 
Mr.  Sumner's  separation  from  the  Whig  party  and  association 
with  the  Free-soilers,  to  whose  candidates,  Van  Buren  and 
Adams,  he  lent  efficient  support  in  the  presidential  contest  of 
1848. 

After  the  withdrawal  of  Mr.  Webster  from  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  by  his  entrance  into  the  cabinet  of  Mr.  Fillmore 
in  1850,  Mr.  Sumner  was  nominated  for  the  vacancy  by  a  coali- 
tion of  Free-soilers  and  Democrats  in  the  Massachusetts  Legis- 
lature, and  was  elected  on  April  24,  1851,  after  a  most  earnest 
and  protracted  contest.  He  took  his  seat  on  December,  1,  185  1, 
and  retained  it  by  successive  reelections  till  his  decease. 

His  first  important  speech  was  upon  the  Fugitive  Slave  Act, 
against  which  he  argued  that  Congress  had  no  power  under  the 
Constitution  to  legislate  for  the  rendition  of  fugitive  slaves;  and 


80  IN  MEMORIAM. 

that  if  it  had,  the  act  in  many  essential  particulars  conflicted 
with  the  Constitution,  and  was  also  cruel  and  tyrannical.  In  this 
speech  Mr.  Sumner  laid  down  as  a  guide  for  political  action  the 
formula  to  which  he  ever  afterward  adhered,  that  "  freedom  is 
national,  and  slavery  sectional."  In  the  debate  on  the  repeal  of 
the  Missouri  compromise,  and  on  the  contest  in  Kansas,  Mr. 
Sumner  took  a  very  prominent  part.  His  last  speech  upon  this 
topic,  which  was  printed  under  the  title  of  "  The  Crime  against 
Kansas,"  occupied  two  days  in  its  delivery,  May  19  and  20, 
1856.  Some  passages  in  it  greatly  incensed  the  members  of 
Congress  from  South  Carolina,  one  of  whom,  Preston  S.  Brooks, 
on  May  22,  assaulted  Mr.  Sumner  while  he  was  writing  at  his 
desk  in  the  Senate  Chamber,  and  with  a  gutta-percha  cane 
struck  him  on  the  head  till  he  fell  to  the  floor  insensible.  The 
injury  thus  received  proved  very  serious,  and  was  followed  by  a 
severe  and  long  disability,  from  which  his  recovery  was  not 
complete  till  three  or  four  years  later. 

His  term  of  office  as  senator  expired  March  4,  1857,  and  in 
the  preceding  January  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  reelected 
him  by  a  unanimous  vote  in  the  Senate,  while  in  the  House  of 
Representatives,  consisting  of  several  hundred  members,  he 
received  all  but  seven  votes.  Under  the  advice  of  physicians 
he  went  to  Europe  for  the  benefit  of  his  health  in  March,  1857, 
and  returned  in  the  autumn  to  resume  his  seat  in  the  Senate. 
His  health  being  still  impaired,  he  went  abroad  again  in  May, 
1858,  remaining  till  the  autumn  of  1859,  and  submitted  to  a 
course  of  extraordinarily  severe  medical  treatment  in  Paris. 
His  next  serious  effort  was  an  elaborate  speech  in  the  Senate, 
denouncing  the  influence  of  slavery  on  character,  society, 
and  civilization,  which  was  printed  under  the  title  of  "  The 
Barbarism  of   Slavery." 

In  the  presidential  contest  of  i860  he  made  several  speeches 
in  behalf  of  Abraham  Lincoln  and  Hannibal  Hamlin.  In  the 
Senate  and  in  popular  addresses,  during  the  civil  war,  he  ear- 
nestly opposed  all  concession  to  or  compromise  with  slavery, 
and  early  proposed  emancipation  as  the  speediest  mode  of 
bringing  the  war  to  a  close.  He  based  his  arguments  not  only 
on   moral    and    historical,    but  on   constitutional    grounds,   and 


CHARLES   SUMNER.  81 

always  claimed  that  his  positions  were  in  strict  accordance  with 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

In  March,  1 86 1 ,  when  the  Republican  party  obtained  the 
control  of  the  Senate,  Mr.  Sumner  was  made  chairman  of  the 
Committee  on  Foreign  Relations.  On  Jan.  9,  1862,  he  deliv- 
ered an  elaborate  speech,  arguing  that  the  seizure  of  Messrs. 
Mason  and  Slidell,  on  board  the  steamer  Trent,  was  unjustifi- 
able on  the  principles  of  international  law,  which  had  always 
been  maintained  by  the  United  States.  This  speech  had  great 
influence  in  reconciling  the  public  to  the  surrender  of  the  Con- 
federate envoys.  Later  in  the  war  he  made  powerful  speeches 
on  "  Our  Foreign  Relations  "  (1863),  and  on  "The  Case  of  the 
Florida"  (1864),  and  in  1865  he  pronounced  a  eulogy  on 
President  Lincoln.  A  speech  upon  our  claims  on  England, 
April  13,  1869,  caused  great  excitement  and  indignation  in 
Great  Britain,  where  it  was  erroneously  supposed  to  threaten 
war,  and  regarded  as  an  attempt  to  excite  popular  feeling 
against  that  country  by  exaggerating  the  "  consequential  dam- 
ages "  she  had  incurred  in  recognizing  the  belligerency  of  the 
seceding  States,  and  in  allowing  the  Confederate  cruisers  to  sail 
from  her  ports.  In  the  same  year  his  opposition  to  the  Santo 
Domingo  treaty,  against  which  he  delivered  a  speech  in  the  Senate, 
brought  him  into  collision  with  the  administration  of  President 
Grant,  and  led  to  his  removal,  in  March,  1870,  from  the  chair- 
manship of  the  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations,  and  ultimately 
to  his  separation  from  the  Republican  party,  and  his  support  of 
Horace  Greeley,  the  Liberal  Republican  and  Democratic  candi- 
date for  President  in  1872.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  he  had 
delivered  in  the  Senate  an  animated  speech  against  the  renomi- 
nation  of  President  Grant,  which  did  not  have  the  weight  he 
expected  with  the  Republican  convention  that  met  shortly  after- 
wards. On  Sept.  1 1  a  convention  of  Democrats  and  Liberal 
Republicans,  held  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  nominated  him  for 
Governor  of  the  State;  but  he  had  already  gone  to  Europe  for 
medical  advice,  and,  when  the  news  of  his  nomination  reached 
him  in  England,  he  declined  it.  He  returned  from  Europe  late 
in  1872,  and,  on  taking  his  seat  in  the  Senate,  reintroduced  two 
measures  which  he  had  unsuccessfully  proposed  before.     One 


/ 

82  IN  MEM  OR  I  AM. 

was  the  Civil  Rights  Bill,  the  other  a  resolution  providing  that 
the  names  of  the  battles  won  over  fellow-citizens  in  the  Civil  War 
should  be  removed  from  the  regimental  colors  of  the  army  and 
from  the  army  register.  This  last  resolution  was  strongly 
denounced,  and  led  to  a  vote  of  censure  on  him  by  the  Legisla- 
ture of  Massachusetts  in  1873,  which  was  rescinded  in  1874, 
shortly  before  his  death.  He  died  of  angina  pectoris,  after  an 
illness  of  a  few  hours. 


HENRY  VV.   CARTER. 
1805  —  1876. 


BY   HIS   BROTHER,   JOSIAH    CARTER,    OF   BOSTON. 


HENRY  WORDSWORTH  CARTER  was  born  on  Carter 
Hill,  in  Leominster,  Mass.,  on  the  eighth  day  of 
June,  1805,  where  his  father  and  his  grandfather  only- 
had  lived  before  him.  His  grandfather,  Col.  Josiah  Carter, 
at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  and  his  worthy  spouse,  at  sixteen 
years,  reared  a  log-house  and  first  cleared  the  primeval  forests 
from  the  ground  where  the  old  homestead  now  stands.  The 
old  homestead  has  been  enlarged,  rebuilt,  and  changed,  until, 
like  Peter  Parley's  jack-knife,  it  has  had  three  new  blades  and 
two  new  handles ;  still  it  is  the  same  old  homestead.  Also,  it 
has  been  in  its  time,  chamelion  like,  of  many  colors.  And  to 
this  day  there  stand  —  the  most  beautiful  embellishment  to  the 
old  home — two  stately  elm-trees,  of  at  least  four  feet  in  diameter, 
one  on  either  side  of  the  house,  brought  there  on  the  broad 
shoulder  of  said  Josiah  more  than  three  miles,  after  doing  a 
day's  work  for  a  neighbor,  and  planted  more  than  a  century 
and  a  half  ago.  Peace  to  the  noble  old  trees  !  they  are  still 
green,  and  fragrant  with  the  memory  of  the  planter.  Col. 
Carter  reared  a  large  and  numerous  family  according  to  the 
custom  of  the  times,  of  which  James  was  one,  and  the  successor 
in  ownership  to  the  old  homestead  at  Carter  Hill.  Henry  W. 
Carter  was  the  third  son  of  James  and  Betsey  Carter.  He 
early  learned  the  use  of  the  shovel  and  the  hoe,  the  scythe  and 
the  sickle,  and  plied  them  manfully.  He  always  took  great 
delight  in  reading;   aye,  in  reading  books  of  a  high  order,  such 


84  IN  MEMORIAM. 

as  Milton,  Shakspere,  Pope,  and  such  other  books  as  he  could 
get  hold  of.  Books  were  not  as  easy  to  obtain  fifty  or  sixty 
years  ago  as  now.  In  fact,  I  think  he  had  rather  read  than  to 
wield  the  agricultural  implements  at  any  time.  Henry  was  not 
a  lazy  boy  by  any  means,  but  it  was  more  to  his  taste  to  read 
and  study  than  to  work  on  the  farm  ;  hence  it  was  decided  that 
he  was  to  go  to  college,  and  every  effort  must  be  put  forth  by 
all  the  members  of  the  family  for  that  purpose.  Henry  was 
fitted  for  college  at  the  Academy  at  Groton,  Mass.  He  entered 
Harvard  College  in  1826,  and  graduated  in  the  class  of  1830; 
a  class  of  which  the  Hon.  Judge  Thos.  Hopkinson,  Dr.  Henry 
Lincoln,  the  Hon.  Charles  Sumner  (of  senatorial  fame),  and 
many  other  gentlemen  of  distinction  and  honor,  were  members. 

He  taught  country  district  schools  during  the  winter  vacations, 
while  in  college,  to  eke  out  his  scanty  funds  to  pay  his  current 
bills.  After  completing  his  career,  at  Harvard,  he  taught  a 
private  classical  school  for  boys,  in  Boston,  for  a  number  of 
years,  with  more  or  less  success. 

The  character  of  H.  W.  Carter  was  one  of  rare  beauty  and 
value,  and  although  he  never  was  married,  and  never  had  the 
influence  of  domestic  ties,  his  love  for  humanity  became  pecu- 
liarly warm  and  strong.  To  those  who  needed  his  sympathy 
it  was  never  denied.  Closely  associated  with  the  early  anti- 
slavery  movements  he  used  his  pen  faithfully  and  efficiently  in 
the  cause  of  the  slave.  While  he  clung  fondly  to  the  authors 
read  in  his  youth  his  knowledge  of  passing  events,  here  and 
abroad,  was  full  and  intelligent.  There  was  never  a  more  per- 
fect illustration  of  the  words,  "A  man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the 
abundance  of  his  possessions."  A  constant  student  of  the 
Bible,  and  an  ardent  lover  of  Shakspere,  he  contributed 
largely  to  the  religious  and  literary  influences  of  the  community 
in  which  he  lived.  A  "  common  laborer"  he  was  not.  With 
more  or  less  enthusiasm  he  would  say,  "  I  love  to  till  the  ground, 
for  when  I  am  doing  that  I  feel  that  I  am  helping  God  to  beau- 
tify and  make  the  fruits  thereof  more  abundant."  He  was  a 
large-hearted,  large-minded  man,  whom  a  selfish,  thoughtless 
world  could  little  appreciate. 

At  the  time  of  his  death  he  belonged   to  a   Shakspere  club 


HENRY    IV.   CARTER.  85 

at  Athol,  Mass.,  to  whose  members  he  had  endeared  himself, 
and  was  by  them  much  missed  at  their  regular  meetings.  They 
passed  a  set  of  resolutions,  at  a  meeting  called  for  the  purpose, 
eulogizing  him  largely  and  justly. 

The  day  he  died  he  shovelled  snow  after  a  drifting  storm  all 
the  forenoon  for  a  neighbor,  and  as  he  walked  home  at  midday 
for  his  dinner,  and  reached  out  his  hand  for  the  door-latch  to 
his  earthly  home,  he  dropped  on  the  sidewalk,  and  God  opened 
another  door  and  took  him  to  himself. 

Thus  ended  the  somewhat  eventful  life  of  an  honest  man, 
which,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  the  noblest  work  of  God. 

Henry  Wordsworth  Carter  died  at  Athol,  Dec.  30,  1876,  and 
was  buried  at  Leominster,  with  his  kindred. 


GEORGE   JAMES   FOSTER. 
18 1 0  —  1876. 


BY   HIS   NIECE,    CAROLINE   H.    DALL,    OF   WASHINGTON. 


GEORGE  JAMES  FOSTER,  born  at  Newburyport,  July 
27,  1 8 10;  died  at  his  house  in  West  Sixteenth  street, 
New  York,  Sept.  23,  1876,  aged  66. 

Mr.  Foster  was  the  son  of  Samuel  H.  Foster,  of  Canterbury, 
N.H.,  and  of  Mercy  Porter,  of  Danvers,  Mass. 

On  his  father's  side  he  was  descended  from  George  Abbott, 
who  came  from  Yorkshire  to  Andover  in  1643  ;  from  John 
Rogers,  of  Dedham ;  from  Whittingham,  of  Southerton ;  from 
Hubbard,  the  historian ;  Roger  Dudley,  and  Mary  Winthrop, 
as  well  as  John  Laurence,  first  mayor  of  the  city  of  New 
York. 

His  direct  paternal  ancestor  was  Reginald  Foster,  of  Bam- 
borough  Castle,  in  Northumberland,  Warden  of  the  Marches. 
On  his  mother's  side  he  was  sixth  in  descent  from  Governor 
Simon  Bradstreet  and  Ann  Dudley,  and  inherited,  among  other 
small  treasures,  a  copy  of  the  original  edition  of"  Mistress  Anne's 
Poems,"  printed  at  Boston  by  John  Foster  in  1673.  In  face 
and  figure  he  stood  alone  among  his  father's  children.  He 
was  a  Bradstreet,  with  the  unflinching  honesty  and  stern,  half- 
cynical  sense  of  justice  of  the  old  governor ;  he  inherited  his 
features,  temperament,  and  manner,  his  jovial  humor,  and  a 
certain  refined  epicureanism,  which  made  him  value  his  own 
ease  and  the  tranquil  pleasures  of  a  bachelor  life.  This  sepa- 
rated him  alike  from  all  that  was  unworthy  and  from  much  that 
might  be  for  noble  reasons  disquieting.     He  was  not  so  much 


GEORGE  JAMES  FOSTER.  87 

a  student  as  a  great  lover  of  books,  feeling  from  his  earliest 
youth  a  sort  of  affectionate  gratitude  towards  every  person  who 
wrote  one  worth  his  reading.  All  these  traits  combining  made 
him  a  conservative. 

He  went  through  the  Boston  Latin  School,  and  graduated 
from  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1830.  He  at  first  in- 
tended to  enter  the  Law  School  with  his  friend  and  classmate, 
Charles  Sumner. 

In  those  days  the  Commencement  dinner,  not  yet  superseded 
by  the  meaningless  Class-Day  collation,  was  a  family  festival, 
and  the  beautiful  entertainment  prepared  in  his  honor  is  almost 
the  earliest  distinct  memory  of  the  writer.  The  table,  glow- 
ing with  silver  and  crystal,  spread  with  dainties  concocted  from 
the  old  Bradstreet  recipes  by  loving  hands ;  the  glad  games  of 
ball  and  marbles  which  he  and  his  classmates  were  not  too 
proud  to  start  for  his  baby  nieces,  now  seem  nearer  than  many 
things  which  happened  yesterday.  But  the  glad  hopes  with 
which  this  table  was  spread   soon  faded, 

George  Foster  entered  the  law  office  of  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Hubbard,  but  was  obliged  to  give  up  his  professional  career. 
His  father  was  overtaken  by  misfortune.  The  son's  sense  of 
duty  made  him  eager  to  retrieve  the  losses  of  his  family,  and  he 
began  his  business  life,  perhaps,  in  1834,  by  going,  as  a  super- 
cargo, to  China,  on  one  of  the  ships  of  his  brother-in-law,  the 
late  Mark  Healey,  of  Boston.  The  attachment  between  them 
was  strong.  The  great  fire  at  Newburyport  took  place  when 
George  was  about  a  year  old.  In  the  absence  of  his  father 
the  child  was  saved,  by  the  Kensington  lad  lately  apprenticed 
to  Mr.  Foster,  first  from  the  flames,  and  then,  by  his  rigid 
self-denial,  from  the  horrors  of  the  three  days'  starvation 
which  followed  the  fire.  Tardily  enough  in  those  days  did 
supplies  find   their  way   to   the   doomed   town. 

We  love  those  whom  we  are  able  to  serve,  and,  when  the 
child  had  grown  to  be  a  man,  the  same  hand  was  cordially 
extended  to  his  aid.  From  China  Mr.  Foster  was  transferred 
to  Rio  ;  and,  after  a  time,  to  the  service  of  William  W.  God- 
dard.  From  Brazil  he  went  to  Chili,  where  he  became  a 
partner  in  the  house  of  Alsop  &  Co.      His  active  business  life 


88  IN  MEMORIAM. 

carried  him  out  of  the  reach  of  his  classmates,  none  of  whom 
seem  to  have  known  much  of  his  later  years. 

His  most  intimate  friend,  the  late  Edward  Blanchard,  of 
Boston,  was  not  a  classmate,  but  a  friend  chosen  when  they 
were  both  boys  in  petticoats,  living  side  by  side  in  the  pleasant 
old  Atkinson-street  houses,  where  George's  family  found  a 
home  after  the  fire  had  driven  them  from  Newburyport,  and 
where  Mr.  Foster  embarked  in  new  enterprises,  sustained  by 
the  capital  of  his  Kensington  apprentice.  Of  those  who  were 
in  Harvard  College  with  George,  Charles  Sumner  who  was  his 
classmate,  and  Wendell  Phillips  who  graduated  in  1 831,  seem 
to  have  preserved  the  warmest  and  the  most  vivid  memories 
of  the  man  whose  gracious  conservatism  would  always  foil  their 
friendly  attacks  by  a  jest. 

Mr.  Foster  returned  from  South  America,  in  1856,  the 
possessor  of  an  ample  fortune,  which,  not  being  entirely  with- 
drawn from  business,  diminished  a  good  deal  under  the  varied 
changes  of  the  next  twenty  years.  He  lived  almost  entirely 
alone  with  his  servants  until  his  death  in  1876.  His  health  was 
first  impaired  by  severe  attacks  of  fever,  contracted  in  crossing 
the  Andes,  before  roads  or  railways  existed  to  make  the  passage 
easy.  He  made  small  mention  of  his  own  sufferings,  content  to 
bear  them  patiently,  and  forget  them,  as  far  as  possible,  in  the 
travels  and  biographies  with  which  he  beguiled  his  leisure. 

His  will,  made  about  a  year  before  his  death,  was  a  model 
of  thoughtful  consideration.  He  had  no  direct  heirs,  yet  his 
only  public  bequest  was  a  legacy  of  $3,000  to  the  New  York 
Society  Library  ;  —  an  expression  of  gratitude  for  the  pleasure 
he  had  derived  from  its  shelves.  He  knew  when  the  end  drew 
near,  and,  occupying  himself  in  many  kindly  ways,  awaited  it 
with  sweetness  and  dignity.  That  he  encountered  death  sud- 
denly and  alone  mattered  the  less  that  it  is  in  one  sense  the  com- 
mon lot.  That  death  is  more  momentous  than  birth  no  man 
has  any  need  to  think. 

Mr.  Foster  was  the  last  survivor  of  his  father's  family.  His 
body  was  laid  in  the  Second  Street  Marble  Cemetery,  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  by  the  side  of  those  who  had  gone  before. 


JOHN  BOZMAN  KERR. 
1809  — 1878. 


BY    HIS   WIFE,    LUCY    HAMILTON    KERR,    OF   WASHINGTON. 


IT  will  be  a  difficult  task  to  condense  in  the  short  space 
allotted  to  a  college  memoir  an  accurate  account  of  one 
who,  during  a  long  lifetime,  united  all  the  qualities  that 
form  the  courteous  Christian  gentleman.  His  own  family  might 
very  naturally  be  accused  of  egotism  if  his  noble  character 
were  fully  described;  and,  while  shrinking  from  that  accusation, 
the  simple  data  of  his  life  will  be  given.  Those  friends  who 
knew  and  loved  him  well  must  add  the  praise  and  honor  that 
his  memory  fully  deserves. 

John  Bozman  Kerr,  the  second  son  of  Hon.  John  Leeds 
Kerr,  and  Sarah  Hollyday  (Chamberlaine)  Kerr,  was  born 
at  Easton,  Talbot  Co.,  Md.,  Sunday,  March  5,  1809.  After 
the  usual  course,  at  the  Easton  Academy,  he  was  sent,  in  August, 
1827,  to  the  University  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  where  he  entered 
a  sophomore,  and  was  graduated  in  1830.  After  three  years 
in  the  law  office  of  his  father  he  came  to  the  bar,  and  for  some 
years  practised  in  his  native  county.  In  1836-37  he  was  elected 
to  the  Maryland  House  of  Delegates. 

From  1847-49  Mr.  Kerr  was  acting  attorney-general  for  his 
native  county,  —  a  post  once  held  by  his  father,  the  Hon. 
John  Leeds  Kerr,  and  by  that  gentleman's  maternal  uncle,  John 
Leeds  Bozman,  Esq.,  the  author  of  the  History  of  Maryland. 
In  1849,  also  the  year  of  his  marriage,  he  was  elected  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  United  States.  Having  the 
confidence  of  the  Taylor-Fillmore  administrations,  he  was  named 


90  IN  MEM  OKI  AM. 

Charge"  d' Affaires  to  the  republic  of  New  Granada  on  the  expi- 
ration of  his  term  of  service  as  a  member  of  XXXIst.  Congress. 
He  was  afterwards  transferred  to  the  more  responsible  post  of 
Minister  to  Central  America,  as  the  complicated  questions 
relating  to  the  "  Webster-Crampton  "  project  for  settling  the 
differences  between  Costa  Rica  and  Nicaragua,  and  carrying  out 
the  fair  deductions  of  the  "  Bulwer-Clayton "  treaty,  together 
with  the  disputed  nationality  of  the  Bay  Islands,  required  most 
careful  and  statesman-like  action. 

Just  as  he  arrived  at  Leon  de  Nicaragua  a  civil  war  was 
imminent,  which  culminated  in  an  emeutc  Aug.  4,  1851. 

Having  had  a  conference,  in  his  official  character,  with  Mr. 
Castillon,  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  Kerr  felt  at  liberty  to  take  a 
decided  stand  against  the  revolutionary  movement  which  threat- 
ened the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  country.  Recognizing 
this,  the  Legislature,  specially  convened  in  1853,  passed  resolu- 
tions officially  thanking  him,  and  commending  his  vigorous 
action. 

It  was  never  for  a  moment  doubted  what  his  course  would  be 
on  the  breaking  out  of  our  own  fearful  civil  war.  After  the 
previous  Legislature  had  adopted  measures  looking  towards 
secession,  Governor  Hicks  issued  a  proclamation,  on  Tuesday, 
December  3,  1861,  "to  provide  the  earliest  means  of  keeping 
Maryland  in  her  true  Union  position.  Mr.  Kerr  responded, 
and  by  his  fearless  and  patriotic  action  helped  to  save  the  State. 

He  came  to  Washington,  in  1862,  to  accept  a  position  in  the 
Department  of  Justice,  where,  to  use  his  own  words,  "  I  do  not 
know  whether  I  have  changed  my  legal  residence  or  not;  but  it 
is  with  sorrow  and  regret  I  leave  my  native  county."  He  was 
appointed  a  Solicitor  in  the  Court  of  Claims,  and  afterwards 
Solicitor  for  the  Sixth  Auditor's  Office,  Post-office  Department. 

Throughout  the  entire  rebellion  he  was  in  perfect  sympathy 
with  the  government,  and  lived  to  see  its  principles  maintained. 

He  died  suddenly  at  his  home  in  Washington,  Jan.  27,  1878, 
to  the  unspeakable  grief  of  his  wife  and  children.  His  sons 
accompanied  his  remains  to  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland, 
and  reverently  laid  him  in  the  old  family  burying-ground  at 
Belleville,  near  Easton,  in  Talbot  County,  the  resting-place  of 
his  forefathers  for  nearly  two  centuries. 


HENRY   RICE    COFFIN. 
1810-ii 


BY   HIS    SISTER,    MRS.    NATHANIEL   HALL,    OF   DORCHESTER, 

MASS. 


HENRY  RICE  COFFIN,  eldest  son  of  John  Gorham  and 
Elizabeth  (Rice)  Coffin,  was  born  in  Boston,  November 
10,  1 8 10.  His  childhood  was  a  bright  and  happy  one. 
As  a  youth  he  was  fond  of  his  books,  and  enjoyed  especially  the 
years  passed  at  the  Latin  School.  Though  his  nature  was  a 
reserved  and  sensitive  one,  he  made  friendships  among  his  mates, 
and  often  brought  them  to  share  the  pleasures  of  his  home. 

He  entered  Harvard  College  at  the  age  of  sixteen.  A  letter 
from  Charles  Sumner  was  found  among  his  papers,  proposing 
that  they  should  become  room-mates.  Towards  the  latter  part 
of  his  collegiate  course  his  father  died,  and  the  family  was 
scattered.  After  graduating  honorably  Mr.  Coffin  became 
principal,  temporarily,  of  an  academy  in  Farmington,  Maine,  as 
he  had  not  decided  what  profession  to  adopt.  Hard  and  rather 
distasteful  work  in  the  academy,  the  absence  from  family  and 
friends,  added  to  a  sense  of  responsibility  as  the  eldest  son, 
induced  an  illness,  and  the  mental  powers  gave  way  under  the 
strain,  very  heavy  to  one  so  sensitive. 

At  first  there  was  hope  of  recovery ;  but  the  mental  cloud 
was  not  lifted.  For  more  than  forty  years  he  was  tenderly  cared 
for,  attracting  those  who  ministered  to  him  by  his  gentleness 
and  delicacy  of  bearing. 

Some  of  his  classmates  can  testify  to  his  fine  scholarship  in 
the  Latin  and  Greek  classics.     An  unconscious    action   of  the 


92  IN  MEMORIAM. 

memory,  if  so  it  can  be  called,  was  shown  in  his  accurate  repeti- 
tion, to  the  very  last  day  of  his  life,  of  long  Latin  quotations, 
after  his  physician  gave  him  the  first  lines. 

A  peaceful  death  closed  the  life  so  unfinished  here.     May  the 
eternal  years  bring  to  it  a  full  fruition. 


CHARLES    STUART. 
1 88 1. 


BY   HIS   CLASSMATE,   JOHN   O.    SARGENT,    OF   NEW   YORK. 


CHARLES  STUART  was  an  uncommonly  good  scholar. 
He  possessed  a  remarkable  memory,  and  easily  distanced 
all  his  class  at  school  or  college  in  the  exercise  of  capping 
verses.  He  could  roll  off,  ad  infinitum,  hexameters  of  the  desired 
initial  from  Virgil  or  Juvenal,  and  in  this  game  was  seldom 
worsted.  He  wrote  Latin  verses  with  facility,  and,  with  bare 
study,  Greek  verses  that  would  pass  muster.  In  college  he  main- 
tained a  fair  rank.  On  graduation  he  embraced  the  profession 
of  the  law ;  and  in  educational  pursuits  and  such  legal  practice 
as  he  could  command  in  the  intense  competition  at  the  New 
York  bar,  he  lived  for  many  years.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence 
of  some  senior  members  of  the  profession,  to  whom  he  was  able 
to  render  himself  of  service.  He  was  in  close  relations  with 
Governor  Van  Wess  while  he  was  collector  of  the  port  of  New 
York  under  President  Tyler,  and  in  his  latter  days  was  employed 
in  confidential  clerical  labors  by  Judge  Roosevelt.  It  may  be 
doubted,  however,  if  his  heart  were  ever  very  strongly  in  his 
profession.  His  role  was  that  of  a  scholar,  and  it  was  on  his 
proficiency  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  classics  that  he  especially 
prided  himself.  He  died,  unmarried,  while  on  a  visit  in  Wash- 
ington, D.C.,  in  1 88 1. 


JOHN   PICKERING. 
1808  — 1882. 


BY   HIS    SISTER,    MARY   PICKERING,    OF   SALEM. 


JOHN  PICKERING  was  born  in  Salem,  Mass.,  November 
8,  1808.  He  was  the  eldest  son  of  John  and  Sarah 
(White)  Pickering,  and  a  grandson  of  Colonel  Timothy 
Pickering.  His  early  education  was  obtained  at  the  private 
schools  and  classical  school  in  Salem ;  and  he  was  fitted  for 
college  at  the  school  of  Mr.  Simeon  Putnam,  at  North  Andover, 
entering  the  freshman  class  of  Harvard  College  in  1826,  and 
graduating  in  1830.  His  quiet  course  in  college  was  marked 
by  correct  deportment  and  obedience  to  the  laws  and  regula- 
tions of  the  university,  while  he  gained  the  esteem  and  affec- 
tion of  his  associates,  which  he  ever  afterwards  retained.  Not 
possessing  a  taste  for  mathematical  or  other  scientific  studies,  he 
had  a  fondness  and  aptitude  for  acquiring  the  classical  and 
modern  languages,  especially  the  latter,  which  always  continued 
to  claim  his  attention  and  interest. 

In  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Pierian  Sodality,  the 
society  so  long  existing  there,  to  which  his  love  of  music  then 
attracted  him,  and  which  contributed  so  much  to  his  enjoyment 
as  a  recreation,  especially  in  domestic  life. 

Before  graduating  from  college  he  was  engaged  by  Mr.  Gideon 
Thayer,  principal  of  the  Chauncy  Hall  school,  in  Boston,  as  a 
teacher  of  the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Spanish  languages.  In  this 
occupation  the  year  was  passed  for  which  the  engagement  had 
been  made ;  and  in  this  time  he  had  secured  the  confident  re- 
gard of  the  patrons  of  the  school  and  the  strong  attachment  of 


JOHN  PICKERING.  95 

his  pupils.  At  the  termination  of  this  engagement  he  entered 
the  office  of  his  father  for  the  study  of  law.  At  this  time  the 
Honorable  John  Pickering  was  the  city  solicitor  of  Boston,  to 
which  office  he  was  annually  elected  until  his  resignation  of  it, 
from  declining  health,  in  1846;  and  during  this  period  his  son 
constantly  assisted  him  in  the  duties  which  fell  to  his  share. 
Upon  the  death  of  his  father  he  entirely  relinquished  the  pur- 
suit of  his  profession.  Desiring  to  enter  into  active  business 
life  he  engaged  in  it  as  a  note  and  stock  broker,  and  in  185  1 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Boston  Stock  Exchange, 
establishing  himself  in  the  Union  Building  in  State  street,  in  the 
same  office  which  he  always  afterwards  occupied,  and  where  he 
was  associated  in  late  years  with  a  junior  partner,  Mr.  Charles 
W.  Moseley,  under  the  business  name  of  John  Pickering  & 
Moseley.  For  more  than  thirty  years  his  life  was  assiduously 
devoted  to  the  duties  of  the  business  which  he  had  adopted ; 
and  in  all  its  requirements  and  responsibilities  he  was  recognized 
as  a  man  of  sterling  integrity  and  honor.  His  marked  courtesy 
and  unfailing  regard  for  the  rights  and  claims  of  his  associates  in 
business  won  their  respect  and  secured  their  strong  personal 
attachment,  which  was  manifested  not  only  during  his  life,  but 
expressed  at  his  decease,  in  spontaneous  and  feeling  tributes  to 
his  memory  by  the  members  of  the  Boston  Stock  Exchange. 

During  the  entire  period  of  his  mercantile  life  in  Boston  his 
home  was  in  Salem.  In  1850  he  was  married  to  Mehitable 
Smith  Cox,  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Cox,  Esq.,  of  Salem,  and 
sister  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Cox,  the  late  eminent  physician  of  that 
city.  In  his  domestic  relations  he  was  most  fortunate  and 
happy ;  and  as  a  citizen  he  identified  himself  with  the  best 
interests  and  private  charities  of  his  native  town.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Essex  Institute,  and  a  member  of  the  Essex 
Agricultural  Society,  and  was  much  interested  in  their  objects 
and  advancement,  from  his  own  love  of  nature  and  great  en- 
joyment of  its  pure  resources.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Massachusetts  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  holding  the  member- 
ship descending  to  him  as  the  eldest  son  of  his  father,  who  had 
himself  held  it  as  the  eldest  son  of  his  father,  Colonel  Timothy 
Pickering. 


96  IN  MEMORIAM. 

Late  in  the  autumn  of  1 88 1  his  vigorous  health  became  im- 
paired. At  the  close  of  the  year  his  increasing  debility  excited 
grave  solicitude,  and  on  the  20th  of  January,  1882,  he  passed 
peacefully  to   rest,  in  the  full  possession  of  his   mental  powers. 

The  innate  modesty  of  his  nature  would  forbid  an  extended 
recital  of  the  traits  of  character  and  daily  life  which  made  him 
a  marked  man  of  the  community  in  whjch  he  lived,  and  caused 
the  void  widely  felt  by  his  decease. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  officers  and  standing  committee  of  the 
Massachusetts  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  held  March  2,  1882, 
the  following  resolution  was  unanimously  passed :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  death  of  John  Pickering,  a  grandson 
of  Colonel  Timothy  Pickering,  an  original  member  of  Revolu- 
tionary fame  and  glory,  the  Massachusetts  Society  of  the 
Cincinnati  and  its  standing  committee  have  lost  one  whose 
purity  of  life  and  integrity  of  character,  whose  modesty  of 
demeanor,  and  whose  firmness  ever  mingled  with  gentleness 
and  courtesy,  whose  earnest  and  patriotic  sympathies  in  all  the 
purposes  and  influences  of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  made 
him  every  way  worthy  to  hold  the  place  once  occupied  by  his 
honored  grandfather  in  this  society." 

In  a  brief  sketch  of  the  subject  of  this  notice  it  is  not  per- 
mitted us  to  dwell  on  the  distinguishing  characteristics  of 
domestic  life  which  endeared  him  to  his  family,  to  a  wide  circle 
of  friends,  and  to  persons  of  all  classes  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  His  attachments  to  Salem  were  peculiarly  strong,  and 
its  institutions  claimed  his  earnest  interest  and  support.  He 
was  a  constant  worshipper  at  the  First  Church,  as  his  ancestors 
had  been,  and  his  home  was  in  the  venerable  mansion  in  which 
they  had  also  lived. 

This  ancient  and  picturesque  house,  now  standing,  and  in  a 
perfect  state  of  preservation,  was  built  in  the  year  1651;  the 
estate  having  been  purchased  in  1642  by  John  Pickering,  from 
Yorkshire,  England,  who  was  recorded  as  an  inhabitant  of  Salem 
in  1637,  and  it  has  always  remained  in  the  possession  of  the 
successive  generations  of  the  family.  In  this  house  Colonel 
Timothy  Pickering  was  born,  and  a  large  family  of  sisters,  as 
well   as  an   elder  brother,  the  Honorable  John  Pickering,  also  a 


JOHN  PICKERING.  97 

prominent  citizen  of  Salem,  by  whom  this  ancient  homestead 
was  given  to  his  nephew,  John  Pickering,  the  lawyer,  scholar, 
and  philologist,  who  bequeathed  it  to  his  son  John,  the  subject 
of  this  memoir,  by  whom  it  was  most  carefully  cherished. 

In  this  quiet  and  attractive  home,  which  was  graced  by  the 
refined  taste  and  courtly  hospitality  of  its  possessor,  the  happi- 
est hours  of  our  departed  friend  were  passed.  In  1879  Mr. 
Pickering  sustained  the  loss  of  his  excellent  wife.  He  has  left 
two  daughters,  and  a  son  in  adult  life,  who  bears  the  name  of 
John  Pickering. 


ELISHA    REYNOLDS    POTTER. 

18 1 1  — 1882. 


BY   HENRY   BARNARD,    HARTFORD,    CONN. 


ELISHA  REYNOLDS  POTTER,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  was  the  son  of  Elisha  Reynolds  Potter  and  Mary 
(Mawney)  Potter,  and  was  born  in  what  is  now  the  vil- 
lage of  Kingston,  in  the  town  of  South  Kingstown,  Rhode  Island, 
on  the  20th  day  of  June,  A.D.  181 1.  His  father,  also  a  native 
of  South  Kingstown,  was  a  prominent  lawyer,  and  had  an  exten- 
sive practice  so  long  as  he  remained  at  the  bar.  In  1794  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  Congress,  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the 
4th  Congress,  and  at  the  same  time  he  was  elected  to  the 
5th  Congress,  but  resigned  before  the  close  of  his  term.  Con- 
gress then  sat  in  Philadelphia.  In  1809  he  was  again  elected 
to  Congress,  and  continued  a  member  for  six  years,  and  then 
declined  a  reelection.  He  was  also,  for  about  forty  years,  a 
member  of  the  General  Assembly  of  the  State  from  his  native 
town  of  South  Kingstown. 

Prof.  Wm.  G.  Goddard,  in  a  note  to  his  address  delivered  in 
1843,  "  0n  the  occasion  of  the  change  in  the  Civil  Government 
of  Rhode  Island "  from  the  old  Charter  to  the  Constitution, 
speaking  of  Elisha  R.  Potter,  Sr.,  says:  "Perhaps  no  political 
man  in  this  State  ever  acquired  or  maintained,  often  amid  many 
adverse  circumstances,  a  more  commanding  influence.  This 
influence  was  the  result,  mainly,  of  his  powers  and  qualities  as 
a  man,  of  his  rare  native  endowments,  his  intuitive  perception 
of  character,  his  large  acquaintance  with  the  motives,  principles, 
and  passions  which  belong  to  human  nature,  and  determine  the 


ELISHA  REYNOLDS  POTTER.  99 

conduct  of  men.  He  was  not  a  favorite  of  the  mass  of  the 
people,  for,  politician  though  he  was,  he  neglected  many  of  the 
most  effective  means  of  winning  popularity.  Over  the  minds, 
however,  of  those,  whether  friends  or  foes,  to  whom,  in  political 
concernment,  the  people  are  wont  to  look  for  direction,  he 
always  exerted  an  extraordinary  influence." 

The  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  of  Huguenot 
descent,  being  a  lineal  descendant  of  the  Le  Moine  (his  first 
name  is  not  given  on  the  original  plat  of  the  purchasers  angli- 
cized into  Mawney),  who  was  one  of  the  original  purchasers  in 
a  large  company  of  French  Huguenots  who  bought  an  extensive 
tract  of  land  and  settled  at  what  is  called  Frenchtown,  in  East 
Greenwich,  Rhode  Island.1  She  had  both  the  intelligence  and 
the  spirit  of  the  Huguenots.      Such  was  his  parentage. 

The  son  took  by  inheritance  the  home,  and  paternal  respect, 
which  his  father,  a  great  and  honored  name  in  social  life  and 
political  history  of  his  State,  had  achieved,  and  from  his  mother 
a  constitution  most  delicate  and  refined.  He  had  a  gentleness 
of  nature  almost  feminine.  From  childhood  he  was  always  fond 
of  books  and  study,  and  scholarly  in  all  his  tastes.  He  was, 
however,  as  firm  in  his  convictions  as  he  was  gentle  in  manner. 
His  spirit  wras  always  most  charitable  and  tolerant.  Suaviter  in 
modo,  fortiter  in  re,  was  his  rule  of  conduct  in  private  and  pub- 
lic life. 

He  was  fitted  for  college  principally  at  the  Academy  at 
Kingston  by  the  Rev.  Oliver  Brown,  a  graduate  of  Harvard, 
who  was  also  the  minister  of  the  Congregational  church. 
Before  entering  college  he  studied  French  for  two  summers  at 
Newport  and  Providence,  at  the  same  time  giving  special  atten- 
tion to  mathematics.  He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1826, 
and  graduated  in  the  class  of  1830,  holding  in  his  whole  course 
a  high  position  for  scholarship,  but  extending  his  reading 
widely  beyond  his  class  studies  into  historical  and  general 
literature. 

In  the  winter  following  his  graduation  he  commenced  the 
study  of  the  law,  and  at  the  same  time  took  charge  of  the  clas- 

'Her  father's  name  was  Parson  Mawney,  of  East  Greenwich. 


100  IN  MEMORIAM. 

sical  department  of  the  Academy  at  Kingston.  In  the  spring 
of  1 83 1  he  entered  tjie  law  office  of  Nathaniel  Searle,  of  Provi- 
dence, one  of  the  largest  practitioners  in  the  State,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  the  courts  of  Rhode  Island  on  the  9th 
of  October,  1832.  In  this  practice,  as  attorney,  counsellor,  and 
with  occasional  occupation  in  municipal,  State,  and  national 
affairs,  and  in  historical  authorship,  and  daily  excursions  into 
the  domain  of  literature,  Mr.  Potter  continued  for  fifty  years  a 
life  of  singular  simplicity,  purity,  and  usefulness,  all  the  time 
apparently  unconscious  of  the  good  he  was  doing,  the  broad 
and  thorough  scholarship  he  was  attaining,  or  the  hold  his 
unostentatious  services  had  gained  in  the  respect  and  affections 
of  the  citizens  of  Rhode  Island  and  of  his  fellow-men  generally. 

Along  with  his  legal  studies,  and  even  earlier,  he  had  read 
extensively  in  the  history  and  biography  of  Rhode  Island  and 
of  New  England,  and  began  independent  investigations  into  the 
original  records  and  documents  of  his  native  county  and  State, 
which,  in  1835,  when  only  about  twenty-four  years  old,  he  embod- 
ied in  a  volume  of  four  hundred  pages  with  the  title  of  "The  Early 
History  of  Narragansett,"  with  original  documents  never  before 
printed.  This  contribution  to  the  history  of  the  State  was  pub- 
lished as  the  third  volume  of  their  collections  by  the  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Society,  and  is  still  regarded  of  high  authority 
on  the  subject  and  the  period  of  which  it  treats. 

Mr.  Potter  had  previously  prepared,  while  acting  as  clerk  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  in  1833,  a  document  on  "  Relig- 
ious Corporations,"  which  was  submitted  to  that  body  as  a  re- 
port of  a  committee  charged  with  some  legislation  on  the  subject. 
This  document  discusses  thoroughly  the  practice  of  Rhode  Isl- 
and in  exempting  church  property  from  taxation,  as  well  as  the 
general  principles  on  which  the  statutes  of  mortmain  rest. 

In  1837  Mr.  Potter  published,  the  result  of  exhaustive  re- 
search, "  The  Emissions  of  Paper  Money  by  the  Colony  of 
Rhode  Island,  from  17 10  to  1786,"  which  was  printed  in  a 
pamphlet  of  fifty  pages.  This  pamphlet  was  reprinted  by  Mr. 
Henry  Phillips,  Jr.,  in  his  "  Historical  Sketches  of  the  Paper 
Currency  of  the  American  Colonies,"  prior  to  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution.      In  1865  it  was  rewritten  by  him,  with 


ELISHA   REYNOLDS  POTTER.  101 

additions  by  Mr.  Sidney  S.  Rider,  and  published  in  the  Rhode 
Island  Historical  Tracts,  No.  8,  1880. 

In  the  revolutionary  agitation,  known  as  the  Dorr  Controversy 
or  Rebellion,  Mr  Potter,  although  sympathizing  in  his  political 
professions  with  many  of  the  individuals  associated  in  the  move- 
ment, sided  early  and  decidedly  with  the  party  for  defending 
the  government  against  military  force,  and  against  all  constitu- 
tional changes  not  attempted  in  authorized  ways. 

He  was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  the  part  of  the  gov- 
ernment of  Rhode  Island  to  visit  Washington,  and  secure,  if 
necessary,  the  intervention  of  the  national  Executive  in  defence 
of  law  and  order  in  the  State. 

Mr.  Potter  issued,  in  1842,  a  pamphlet  entitled  "Considera- 
tions on  the  Question  of  the  Adoption  of  a  Constitution  and  the 
Extension  of  Suffrage  in  Rhode  Island,"  with  a  view  of  quiet- 
ing future  agitation.  It  is  a  treatise  of  much  original  research, 
and  of  special  interest  in  the  history  of  Rhode  Island,  and  a 
second  edition  was  called  for  in    1879. 

The  people  of  the  State,  and  especially  of  the  Narragansett 
country,  early  transferred  to  him  the  confidence  and  regard  en- 
tertained for  his  distinguished  father,  —  Elisha  R.  Potter, —  and 
from  his  own  and  the  neighboring  towns  he  was  consulted  by 
them  in  all  matters  relating  to  their  private,  as  well  as  their 
public  affairs,  as  a  trusted  neighbor  and  friend,  and  he  often 
gave  his  counsel  without  fee  or  regard  to  his  personal  comfort. 

He  was  frequently  elected  member  of  the  town  council  of 
South  Kingstown,  and  in  1843  and  '44  was  elected  a  member  of 
Congress  from  the  district  in  which  he  lived.  His  intimate  and 
thorough  knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  State  made  his  sug- 
gestions of  much  practical  importance  in  all  municipal  and  State 
legislation,  and  secured  him  great  personal  influence  even  with 
those  who  differed  from  him  politically. 

After  his  retirement  from  Congress  in  1844  Mr.  Potter  cor- 
dially entered  into  the  movements  which  began  in  1843  and 
resulted  for  the  first  time  in  the  thorough  organization  of  a  sys- 
tem of  public  schools  for  the  State;  and  in  1849  he  succeeded 
Mr.  Barnard  as  Commissioner,  and  carried  forward  and  consoli- 
dated the  forms   of  procedure  under  the  school  law  prepared 


102  IN  MEMO RI AM. 

originally  by  Mr.  Barnard,  and  subsequently  issued  a  revised 
and  perfected  edition  of  the  same.  During  his  administration, 
in  1852,  the  State  Normal  School,  suggested  and  advocated 
by  his  predecessor  in  1845,  was  established,  and  inaugurated 
by  an  address  in  which  he  gave  it  his  cordial  support,  although 
he  was  originally  in  favor  of  a  system  of  professional  training  in 
which  Brown  University  should  take  a  responsible  part,  both  on 
the  ground  of  its  being  the  head  of  public  instruction,  and 
because  the  State  had  a  right  to  look  for  hearty  cooperation  in 
the  professional  training  of  public-school  teachers,  on  account 
of  the  corporate  privileges  and  exemptions  accorded  to  the 
institution  and  its  professors. 

He  was  early  called  to  recognize  and  apply  to  public  schools 
the  doctrine  and  policy  of  Rhode  Island,  —  of  the  entire  separation 
of  church  and  state.  While  he  held  and  encouraged  religious 
instruction  to  the  largest  extent  by  voluntary  cooperation  of 
parents,  he  felt  it  his  duty,  as  State  Commissioner,  to  protect  the 
humblest  member  of  society  from  any  denominational  imposi- 
tion of  special  creed  in  the  administration  or  instruction  of  the 
schools  of  a  town  or  district.  To  the  literature  of  this  subject 
Mr.  Potter  contributed  several  addresses,  as  well  as  a  special 
report,  in  which  was  given  the  experience  of  different  countries 
in  Europe,  and  of  different  States  on  this  continent,  in  this  de- 
partment of  public  service,  and  a  digest  of  the  best  thoughts 
which  had  been  presented  from  time  to  time  on  both  sides  of 
the  difficult  problem  of  religious  instruction  in  public  schools. 

In  185  1,  in  an  address  before  the  Historical  Society,  Mr.  Pot- 
ter explained  the  exceptional  ground  occupied  by  Rhode  Island 
in  the  educational  policy  of  New  England.  As  long  as  educa- 
tion was  looked  upon  as  exclusively  or  mainly  the  work  of  the 
church,  and  of  clergymen,  he  claimed  that  Rhode  Island  could 
not  consistently  legislate  on  the  subject.  When  that  ground 
was  gradually  and  practically  abandoned,  then  the  State  took 
up  the  matter.  Although  late  in  the.  field,  he  claimed  that  the 
system  now  in  operation  in  Rhode  Island  did  in  all  respects 
compare  favorably  with  the  older  systems  of  the  neighboring 
States. 

In    January,    1852,   Mr.    Potter  began  the    publication    of   a 


ELISHA   REYNOLDS  POTTER.  103 

monthly  educational  magazine,  which  was  continued  to  the 
completion  of  the  second  volume  in  1853.  The  two  volumes 
are  full  of  educational  matter  of  permanent  value,  and  should 
be  in  every  public  library  of  the  State. 

In  1 86 1  Mr.  Potter  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature  from 
South  Kingstown,  and  urged  the  General  Assembly  to  the 
adoption  of  resolutions  pledging  the  resources  of  the  State  to 
the  support  of  the  American  Union,  and  in  his  remarks  he 
anticipated  an  entire  revolution  in  the  political  status  and 
domestic  policy  of  the  Southern  States  as  the  inevitable  result 
of  their  attempt  at  secession. 

In  1862,  while  a  member  of  the  Senate,  he  submitted  a 
report  denying  the  right  of  the  Legislature  to  grant  a  perpetual 
exemption  from  taxation  to  any  religious  institution  having 
resources  of  its  own,  or  to  exempt  the  property  of  an  incorpo- 
ration, literary  or  charitable,  or  its  office-bearers,  from  taxation ; 
and  where  such  exemption  was  now  made  it  was  the  duty  of 
the  Legislature  to  correct  the  practice,  as  all  property  in  the 
State  should  bear  its  proportion  of  the  cost  of  its  protection. 

In  1868  Mr.  Potter  was  elected  a  Justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  State,  which  office  he  continued  to  hold  until  his 
decease,  April  10,  1882,  and  no  member  of  the  bar  in  his  day 
could  have  brought  to  it  more  solid  or  varied  learning,  sounder 
views  of  equity,  or  more  patient  consideration  to  the  discharge 
of  all  his  duties  on  the  bench  or  in  chambers.  No  matter  with 
what  inconvenience  to  himself,  he  was  always  ready  to  attend 
to  his  duties  as  a  magistrate. 

His  associates,  in  receiving  the  resolutions  of  the  bar  on  the 
occasion  of  his  decease,  one  and  all  bore  testimony  to  the  pa- 
tience, fidelity,  and  learning  with  which  he  had  uniformly 
discharged  his  duties.  "  That  he  was  strictly  upright,  pure,  and 
incorruptible  in  this  high  station,"  observes  one,  "  is  only  to 
express  the  sentiment  of  all  who  knew  him.  No  one  for  a 
moment  could  think  him  capable  in  the  slightest  degree  of 
betraying  his   exalted    trust." 

Mr.  Potter  was  a  true  lover  of  books  ;  he  prized  a  book  for 
its  own  sake,  although  he  had  a  most  discriminating  taste  and 
judgment  with  regard  to  their  contents  and  editions ;   and  his 


104  IN  MEM  OR  I  AM. 

own  library  was  a  monument  of  choice  selections  in  all  the 
great  departments  of  thought.  No  book  went  on  to  the  shelves 
of  his  library  until  he  had  made  himself  master  of  all  it  con- 
tained, and  no  man  was  more  ready  to  communicate  knowledge 
thus  gained  to  others,  or  more  full  and  accurate  in  his  refer- 
ences. With  all  his  attachment  to  his  own  books  he  was 
always  ready  to  loan  to  a  special  investigator  his  choicest 
volumes.  Scarcely  a  book  can  be  taken  down  from  his 
shelves  which  does  not  contain  slips  and  memoranda  by  him, 
elucidating  the  subject  treated,  or  the  author.  He  was  never 
less  alone  than  in  his  library,  where  great  minds  could  be  sum- 
moned at  will  to  conference  or  recreation.  And  the  pleasure 
which  he  derived  from  books  he  wished  to  make  accessible  to 
all,  rich  and  poor,  old  and  young,  through  school  and  village 
libraries ;  which,  as  School  Commissioner,  he  labored  to  es- 
tablish and  extend  in  every  town,  and,  to  aid  in  the  se- 
lection, he  issued  a  list  of  good  books,  which  is  still  exten- 
sively used.  The  library  at  Kingston  was  started  by  him,  and 
greatly  enriched  by  his  donations,  and  at  no  distant  day  his 
own  collection  will  become  a  Free  Library  of  Reference  for 
the  State  and  country. 

Mr.  Potter,  though  always  and  everywhere  a  Rhode-Islander, 
so  far  as  a  consistent  recognition  of  the  principle  of  "  soul 
liberty  "  makes  a  Rhode-Islander,  was  always  and  everywhere 
an  American,  above  the  distinctions  of  party  and  creed.  He 
never  questioned  any  individual's  right  to  vote,  think,  or  speak 
according  to  his  own  convictions,  and  never  urged  his  own  views 
on  any  one,  old  or  young,  man  or  woman,  and  he  firmly  and 
quietly  held  to  his  own  views  without  obtruding  them  on  others, 
however  rudely  assailed.  He  was  a  man  of  childlike  simplicity 
and  purity  of  manners  and  speech,  and  never  illustrated  his 
views  by  anecdotes  of  equivocal  meaning,  or  seemed  to  under- 
stand such  allusions  in  the  conversation  of  others. 

Judge  Potter's  death  created  a  profound  sensation.  Although 
never  robust,  and  always  requiring  special  care,  his  death  was 
not  anticipated  by  a  prolonged  absence  from  his  duties  on  the 
bench,  so  that  the  announcement  of  his  sickness  and  death  was 
simultaneously  received.     He  held  his  court  in  Providence  on 


ELISHA   REYNOLDS  POTTER.  105 

Friday,  April  7,  1882,  adjourned  and  returned  to  his  home  as 
usual,  expecting  to  resume  his  seat  on  the  bench  the  next  morn- 
ing. A  sharp  attack  of  pneumonia,  however,  prevented  and  ter- 
minated his  life  on  Monday,  April  the  10th,  1 882, at  the  old  home- 
stead of  himself  and  of  his  parents.  His  loss  to  the  court  was 
profoundly  felt,  and  his  services  as  a  public  man  were  gratefully 
acknowledged  by  the  profession  and  by  all  the  authorities  of 
the  State.  The  General  Assembly  adjourned  to  attend  the 
funeral.  The  Supreme  Court  suspended  its  session  at  once,  and 
each  of  the  judges  paid  feeling  tributes  to  his  personal  worth 
and  his  legal  and  miscellaneous  learning.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
bar  resolutions  of  condolence  were  introduced,  and  spoken  to 
with  great  tenderness  and  respect  by  several  of  the  older  and 
younger  members  of  the  profession.  The  public  press  every- 
where recorded  his  death  with  extended  notice  of  his  public 
services,  and  the  most  emphatic  recognition  of  the  simplicity, 
purity,  and  usefulness  of  his  whole  character  and  life.  At  the 
next  quarterly  meeting  of  the  State  Historical  Society  appro- 
priate remarks  were  made  by  its  officers  and  members,  and  an 
elaborate  paper,  drawn  up  by  Judge  Stiness,  was  ordered  to  be 
entered  on  the  records  of  the  society.  A  paper  was  also  read 
by  Sidney  S.  Rider,  containing  a  full  and  condensed  summary 
of  Mr.   Potter's  publications  and  official  life. 

The  funeral  services  were  held  at  eleven  o'clock,  on  Thursday, 
April  13,  at  the  old  Potter  mansion  at  Kingston,  and  were  at- 
tended by  the  members  of  the  Legislature,  by  the  Chief-Justice 
and  Associate  Justices  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  a  full  rep- 
resentation of  the  bar.  The  services  were  conducted  by  the 
pastor  of  the  village  church,  and  at  their  close  the  body  was 
borne  upon  a  bier,  followed  by  the  family  and  a  large  concourse 
of  neighbors,  legislators,  lawyers,  justices,  and  citizens,  to  the 
family  tomb  on  the  homestead  near  his  residence. 


HENRY   WINTHROP   SARGENT. 

18 1 0  —  1882. 


HENRY  WINTHROP  SARGENT  was  born  in  Boston, 
November  26,  18 10.  On  the  maternal  side  he  was  a 
descendant  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  Welles,  mentioned  in 
another  memoir  in  this  volume,  and  his  father  was  Colonel 
Henry  Sargent,  the  painter,  a  pupil  of  West,  and  so  favorably 
known  by  the  admirable  portrait  of  General  Lincoln,  executed 
for  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society,  and  his  great  historical 
painting  of  the  "  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims,"  which  he  presented 
to  the  Plymouth  Society.  His  best  work  was,  perhaps,  one 
widely  known,  at  the  time  of  its  production,  as  the  Dinner 
Party,  which  now  hangs  in  the  dining-room  at  Wodenethe,  the 
late  residence  of  the  subject  of  this  brief  memoir. 

Henry  Winthrop  was  prepared  for  college  at  the  Public 
Latin  School,  then  under  the  charge  of  the  very  conscientious 
and  competent  teacher,  Mr.  Benjamin  A.  Gould,  a  gentleman 
whom  all  his  surviving  pupils  remember  with  respect  and  grati- 
tude. Even  at  this  early  age  the  boy  possessed,  in  a  marked 
degree,  many  of  the  qualities  which  adhered  to  him  through 
life,  derived,  perhaps,  by  inheritance  of  artistic  tendencies,  and 
shown  in  his  love  of  order,  his  fastidious  neatness,  and  good 
taste  in  his  apparel  and  equipments  of  all  kinds,  and  his  extreme 
care  that  all  his  surroundings,  such  as  they  were,  should  be 
without  fault  or  blemish.  He  entered  Harvard  College  in  1826, 
and  passed  through  the  course  with  unfailing  obedience  to  all 
the  requisitions  of  the  authorities,  with  a  creditable  though  not 
distinguished  record  as  a  student  and  scholar.  What  his  par- 
ticular ambition  was  during  these  years  may  be  inferred  from 
his  article  in  the  New  Harvard  Register  of  March,  1880,  on  the 
Harvard  Washington  Corps  fifty  years  ago.      He  was  the   cap- 


HENRY    WIN  THE  OP  SARGENT.  107 

tain  of  the  corps  in  the  year  1829-30.  Nothing  but  an  uncom- 
mon interest  in  the  subject  could  have  enabled  him,  after  the 
lapse  of  fifty  years,  to  remember  and  detail  with  so  much 
minuteness,  the  incidents  to  which  he  refers. 

"  On  entering  college  a  half  century  ago,  and  after  recovering  from  the 
severe  ordeal  of  the  football  contest  (the  freshmen  and  seniors  against  the 
sophomores  and  juniors),  which  occurred  within  the  early  days  after  the 
beginning  of  the  autumn  term,  and  after  the  usual  six  months  or  so  of  hazing, 
the  freshman  of  that  day  found  there  were  three  objects  of  his  ambition :  — 
I.  The  first  scholarship. 
II.     The  most  popular  fellow  in  the  class. 

III.     The  command  of  the  college  company. 

It  was  difficult  to  predict  the  first,  for  many  months ;  in  fact,  hardly  before 
the  middle  of  the  sophomore  year,  not  always  then.  Nor  was  it  very  easy  to 
know  the  second ;  this  likewise  required  many  months  and  many  trials. 
With  the  third  the  matter  was  easier  :  since  certain  characteristics  as  to  height, 
carriage,  military  bearing  as  a  private  in  the  company  for  the  two  or  three 
years  previous  to  the  election,  which  occurred  the  last  term  of  the  junior 
year,  would  somewhat  indicate  who  was,  and  who  was  not,  eligible.     .     .     . 

If  I  remember  right,  the  election  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  summer. 
At  twelve  o'clock  on  a  certain  day,  a  meeting  of  the  four  college  classes  was 
called  on  the  advertising  board  at  Porter's  Hall,  the  old  inn  of  that  name, 
famous  for  its  flip.  The  four  superior  officers,  —  the  captain,  two  lieutenants, 
and  the  adjutant, — out  of  uniform,  but  wearing  swords  and  sashes,  came 
from  the  middle  entry  of  Holworthy  across  the  yard,  with  great  dignity  and 
sobriety;  the  whole  college  walking,  running,  and  shouting  by  their  side, 
still  urging  their  favorites  at  this  last  moment  on  some  uncertain  and  per- 
plexed voter.  On  reaching  the  hall,  the  officers  placing  themselves  behind  a 
table  at  its  upper  end,  the  captain,  coming  forward,  in  what  was  considered 
'  a  graceful  speech,"  resigned  for  himself  and  them  the  offices  they  had  held 
the  past  year,  and  asked  the  college  votes  for  their  successors.  I  think  it 
might  have  been  possible  for  Dr.  Holmes  to  have  originated  on  this  occasion 
his  lines, 

'  It  is,  it  is,  a  hat  is  going  round; ' 

for  into  this  domestic  ballot-box  the  votes  were  deposited,  and  subsequently 
counted,  and  the  successful  candidate  declared.  This  same  course  was  pur- 
sued in  the  election  of  the  three  remaining  officers,  and  the  result  declared 
amidst  the  shouts  or  jeers  and  hisses  of  the  friends  or  enemies  of  the  suc- 
cessful candidates.  After  this  the  old  officers,  taking  off  their  swords  and 
sashes,  put  them  on  their  successors;  and,  arm  in  arm,  the  two  captains,  the 
four  lieutenants,  and  the  two  adjutants  returned  as  they  had  come,  across  the 
yard  to  the  middle  entry  of  Holworthy,  the  whole  college  cheering,  shouting, 
or  hissing  by  their  side.  By  this  time  it  was  one  o'clock;  and,  the  first  act 
having  ceased,  the  college  went  to  dinner. 


108  IN  MEMO RI AM. 

The  second  act  commenced  at  two,  and  was  the  more  interesting  from  being 
more  uncertain.  For  a  day  or  so  before  the  ejection  of  the  higher  officers  it 
was  pretty  well  known  who  they  were  to  be.  rJot  so  with  the  four  command- 
ants, as  they  were  called  (captains  of  companies).  These  were  not  chosen  by 
the  college,  but  by  the  four  old  and  four  new  officers,  and  in  this  way  :  Having 
met  with  closed  doors  in  the  middle  entry  of  Holworthy,  a  name  was  proposed 
for  first  commandant,  balloted  for,  and  accepted  or  rejected  as  the  case  might  be. 
If  accepted,  the  past  senior  commandant  walked  out  alone  across  the  yard  to 
Stoughton,  Hollis,  Massachusetts,  or  wherever  the  new  officer  lived.  During 
the  election  of  commandants,  which  usually  occupied  from  two  to  six,  all  reci- 
tations being  suspended,  the  yard  was  entirely  deserted ;  but  every  window  in 
every  building  was  filled  with  heads,  watching  the  course  of  the  outgoing 
officer,  and  trying  to  guess  who  his  successor  would  be.  If  he  headed  towards 
Stoughton,  that  building  rang  with  shouts  and  applause,  waving  of  handker- 
chiefs, and  every  sort,  of  demonstration  of  joy  ;  with  corresponding  hisses  and 
groans  from  the  other  buildings.  If  he  passed  Stoughton  and  Hollis,  and 
headed  for  Massachusetts,  then  Stoughton  and  Hollis  took  up  the  groans  and 
hisses,  and  Massachusetts  the  cheers.  After  entering  any  building,  there 
came  a  dead  silence  over  the  college,  although  every  eye  was  staring  to  see  the 
new  and  old  officer  come  out  together ;  then  groans,  cheers,  shouts,  and  hisses, 
as  the  new  officer  was  liked  or  disliked.  This  same  course  was  continued  with 
the  three  other  commandants,  until  they  were  all  chosen,  usually  just  as  the 
prayer-bell  rang ;  then  on  crossing  the  yard  came  the  congratulatury  slaps  on 
the  back  and  shakes  of  the  hands  of  one's  friends. 

This  evening  the  old  eight  officers  gave  a  supper  to  the  new  eight,  at  Gal- 
lagher's in  Devonshire  street,  a  great  college  house  in  those  days.  In  return 
the  new  officers  gave  a  supper  on  the  evening  of  their  first  appearance  in 
uniform.  The  next  afternoon,  immediately  after  the  supper,  the  sixteen 
officers,  the  new  eight  with  their  swords  and  the  old  eight  with  muskets,  met 
in  the  grove,  as  it  was  then  called,  immediately  behind,  I  should  say,  the 
Appleton  Chapel,  for  drill ;  the  men  with  guns,  representing  companies,  going 
through  the  manual  and  company  drill.  This  was  continued  every  afternoon 
for  several  weeks,  a  half-dozen  privates  being  at  last  brought  down  to  increase 
the  companies,  until  at  last  there  appeared  in  the  windows  of  University,  as  we 
went  to  prayers,  the  well-known  advertising  board,  eighteen  inches  square, 
and  bound  with  green  ribbon  :  — 

'The  Harvard  Washington  Corps  is  hereby  ordered  to  appear  this  evening,  immediately  after 
tea,  for  battalion  and  company  drill.     Per  order  of  the  captain. 

,  Adjutant.' 

This  first  appearance  was  always  a  very  trying  one  to  the  new  officers,  as  the 
old  ones  appeared  in  the  ranks  with  muskets. 

The  music  consisted  of  a  drum  and  fife,  —  'Old  Dan  Simpson"  the  drum- 
mer, and  'Old  Si  Smith1  the  fifer,  as  they  were  then  called,  both  of  whom 
were  still  alive  a  few  years  ago,  and  I  believe,  are  to-day.  These  drills  took 
place  every  Tuesday  and  Friday  evening,  until  the  company  came  out  for  the 
first  time  in  uniform,  with  the  Brigade  Band  of  twenty-eight  pieces ;  the  men 


HENRY    WINTHROP  SARGENT.  109 

in  the  prescribed  college-dress,  which  was  dark  Oxford  mixed  gray,  single- 
breasted  coats,  the  skirts  cut  away  like  our  present  dress-coats,  and  with  white 
cross-belts ;  the  officers  wearing  the  usual  infantry  felt  cap  or  hat,  with  black 
leather  visor  and  black  fountain  plume,  the  college  uniform  coats,  with  the  gilt 
Massachusetts  button,  gold  epaulets,  and  white  trousers,  the  usual  white 
sword-belt  and  scarlet  silk  sash. 

The  company  of  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and  twenty  guns  was  formed 
by  the  orderly  sergeant  on  the  Common,  then  unenclosed,  and  immediately 
outside  the  railing  in  front  of  Hollis.  At  a  certain  signal  the  eight  officers 
standing  on  the  steps  of  Hollis  marched  out,  the  full  band  playing.  After 
taking  their  proper  places,  the  usual  parade  was  gone  through.  The  corps 
then,  at  slow  time,  marched  through  the  larger  Massachusetts  gate,  past  Uni- 
versity, to  the  middle  entry  of  Holworthy,  where  they  formed  line  and  opened 
ranks,  the  officers  coming  to  the  front,  when  the  standard  was  brought  out 
and  saluted;  after  which,  again  falling  into  column,  the  band  playing  usually 
the  well-known  march  of  '  Pas  redouble?  the  colors  flying,  the  company 
marched  by  Stoughton  and  Hollis,  under  the  admiring  eyes  and  applauding 
hands  of  the  young  ladies  who  were  at  the  windows,  out  through  the  Massa- 
chusetts gate,  by  the  president's  and  professors'  houses,  saluting  each  as  they 
passed,  until  just  before  six,  when,  again  going  through  the  evening  parade  on 
the  Common,  they  were  dismissed,  and  their  guns  usually  taken  to  the  armory 
in  Hollis  or  Stoughton.  The  grand  finale  of  this  exciting  day  was  the 
appearance  of  the  officers  and  men  in  uniform  at  evening  prayers. 

The  Harvard  Washington  Corps  continued  for  several  years  after  my  time, 
and  was  then  suspended  by  the  government,  I  believe  ;  at  any  rate,  it  ceased 
to  exist ;  though  I  understand  some  attempt  to  revive  it  has  been  made  within 
the  last  year  or  so. 

We  have  had  so  much  real  '  soldiering '  to  do  during  our  civil  war,  in  which 
Harvard  boys  played  so  noble  a  part,  that  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  old  stand- 
ard, with  its  well-known  motto,  '  Tarn  Marti  quam  Mercurio?  will  ever  again 
wave  in  the  college  yard." 

After  leaving  college  Mr.  Sargent  entered  the  office  of  Hon. 
Samuel  Hubbard  as  a  student-at-law.  At  that  time  there 
were  two  large  buildings  facing  each  other  in  what  was  known 
as  Court  square,  in  School  street,  —  one  owned  by  Mr.  William 
Sullivan,  who  had  his  offices  there,  and  the  other  known  as 
Barrister's  Hall,  —  and  in  the  two  some  half-dozen  of  Sargent's 
classmates  and  college-mates  pursued  and  completed  their 
studies  for  the  bar.  After  going  through  the  usual  legal 
course  he  removed  to  New  York,  and,  entering  on  commercial 
pursuits,  became  ultimately  a  partner  in  the  firm  of  Gracie  and 
Sargent,  bankers,  and  agent  of  the  then  celebrated  banking- 
house  of  Welles  &  Co.,  of   Paris,  the  head  of  which  was  his 


110  IN  MEMORIAM. 

uncle,  on  the  mother's  side,  Mr.  Samuel  Welles.  In  January, 
1839,  he  married  Caroline,  the  only  daughter  of  Francis 
Olmsted,  of  New  York,  and  not  long  afterwards  retired  from 
active  business  to  a  rural  retreat  at  Fishkill-on-Hudson,  where 
he  sought  to  realize  his  ideal  of  all  pursuits  in  the  life  of  a 
country  gentleman. 

He  purchased  a  tract  of  about  twenty  acres,  with  an  un- 
finished house,  in  the  midst  of  a  native  forest.  He  began  with 
the  axe,  feeling  his  way  at  every  step,  clearing  out  an  old 
inhabitant  wherever  he  proved  to  be  an  obstruction ;  cutting 
out  vistas,  creating  lawns  and  flower-beds,  and  planting  new 
varieties,  year  after  year,  of  ornamental  shrubs  and  trees.  In 
these  earlier  days  he  was  in  constant  intercourse  with  Andrew 
J.  Downing,  the^ancient  horticulturist  and  landscape  gardener, 
who  resided  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  river  at  Newburgh. 
With  him  he  discussed  his  plans,  —  not  as  a  docile  pupil  al- 
together, but  as  an  artist  with  views  of  his  own,  derived*  from 
study  or  intuition,  which  he  could  intelligently  compare  with 
those  of  his  more  experienced  friend,  inspired  with  the  same 
love  of  nature  and  similar  ideas  of  the  true  and  beautiful  in  art. 

There,  in  a  few  years,  he  created  Wodenethe,  a  place  of 
unique  and  unrivalled  charms,  and  long  the  wonder  and  admira- 
tion of  crowds  of  visitors,  who  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  walk  through  such  grounds  as  they  could  find  no- 
where else.  There,  for  forty  years,  saving  only  an  occasional 
visit  to  Europe,  where  he  could  not  well  find  any  twenty  acres 
crowded  with  more  natural  and  cultivated  beauties  than  his  own, 
he  continued  his  study  and  his  work,  —  the  study  and  work  of 
a  lifetime, — knowing  every  blade  of  grass,  scrutinizing  the  effect 
of  every  patch  of  foliage,  every  group  of  shrubs,  every  flower, 
every  leaf. 

Taking  his  daily  observations,  with  his  note-book  in  hand, 
nothing  escaped  his  critical  eye.  It  was  a  serious  and  a  con- 
scientious work  with  him.  The  same  artistic  talent  that  his 
father  had  exhibited  on  canvas,  the  son  manifested  in  his 
grounds.  He  made  his  pictures,  and  set  them  in  frames  of 
emerald,  with  an  unerring  taste  and  skill.  There  was  no  Dutch, 
English,  or  Italian  landscape-gardening  in  his  work.      It  was  his 


HENRY   WINTHROP  SARGENT.  Ill 

own  and  nature's, —  the  adaptation  to  his  purposes  of  the  origi- 
nal growth  upon  his  grounds,  and  the  innumerable  trees  and 
shrubs  that  he  had  brought  together  from  every  quarter  of  the 
globe. 

Mr.  Sargent  never  added  to  his  original  purchase.  He  de- 
clined all  temptations  to  enlarge  his  boundaries.  His  ambition 
was  to  make  a  small  place  perfect,  and,  by  judicious  trimming 
and  planting,  to  acquire  an  indefinite  territory  without  the 
bother  and  expense  of  the  title-deeds.  In  this  he  was  singu- 
larly successful.  You  could  not  tell  from  any  point  where  his 
domain  terminated.  Hill,  wood,  and  river,  however  remote, 
seemed,  as  you  looked  out  on  them,  to  form  a  portion  of  his 
grounds. 

In  this  home  he  died,  on  the  ioth  November,  1882,  leaving 
a  widow  and  one  son  surviving.  By  the  pen  of  a  kinsman,  who 
has  obtained  unrivalled  eminence  in  the  pursuits  to  which  he  was 
himself  attached,  he  has  been  described  as  the  only  American 
who  exclusively  and  without  other  occupation  had  devoted 
himself  for  the  best  part  of  his  life  to  the  enjoyment  and  study 
of  the  art  of  living  in  the  country,  and  the  practice  of  horticult- 
ure. "  Wodenethe,"  he  adds,  "  under  his  hand  became  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  and  instructive  gardens,"  "  and  its  master, 
during  a  full  quarter  of  a  century,  the  most  widely-known  and 
famous  of  American  gardeners." 

He  was  a  versatile  writer ;  amongst  other  publications,  his 
"  Skeleton  tours  through  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  etc." ; 
"  Scenes  on  the  Hudson  during  the  Revolution  "  ;  "  Treatise  on 
Landscape  Gardening,"  — were  very  popular.  He  also  wrote  a 
history  of  the  forest  trees  of  our  country  and  Europe,  and  in 
1873  edited  "A.  J.  Downing's  Cottage  Residences." 


SAMUEL   T.   WORCESTER. 
1804  — 1882. 


BY   HIS    FRIEND,    REV.    FREDERICK   ALVORD,    OF   NEW   BRITAIN, 

CONN. 


SAMUEL  THOMAS  WORCESTER  was  born  in  Hollis, 
N.H.,  August  30,  1804.  He  was  the  great-grandson 
of  Rev.  Francis  Worcester,  a  prominent  clergyman  of 
colonial  times,  whose  home  was  in  Hollis.  A  grandson  of  Cap- 
tain Noah  Worcester,  a  zealous  patriot  in  the  Revolutionary 
War,  and  a  trusted  man  in  the  town  affairs  of  Hollis,  and  a  son 
of  Captain  Jesse  Worcester,  a  respected  citizen  of  the  same 
town.     His  mother  was  Sarah  Parker,  of  Hollis. 

Judge  Worcester  was  the  thirteenth  child  in  a  family  of 
fifteen,  —  nine  sons  and  six  daughters,  —  and  a  brother  of  the 
distinguished  lexicographer,  Joseph  E.  Worcester.  Of  the 
nine  sons,  Joseph  E.  and  Henry  A.  were  graduates  of  Yale 
College;  Taylor  G.,  Samuel  T.,  and  Frederick  A.,  of  Harvard 
College.  Jesse,  Jr.,  died  as  he  was  about  to  enter  Dartmouth 
College,  and  David  spent  two  years  at  Harvard,  when  he  left 
and  became  a  teacher. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  early  felt  a  strong  thirst  for  knowl- 
edge, and,  stimulated  by  the  example  of  his  elder  brothers, 
determined  to  obtain  a  public  education.  He  prepared  for 
college  at  the  academies  of  Pembroke,  N.H.,  and  Andover, 
Mass.,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1 830.  After  his  gradu- 
ation he  taught  school  one  year  at  Weymouth,  Mass.,  and  one 
year  at  Cambridge.      Having    decided  upon  the  profession  of 


SAMUEL    T.    WORCESTER.  113 

the  law,  he  entered  the  office  of  the  Hon.  B.  M.  Farley,  of 
Hollis,  and  completed  his  studies  at  the  law  school  in  Cam- 
bridge. 

In  1835  ne  married  Mary  F.  C.  Wales,  daughter  of  the  late 
Samuel  Wales,  Esq.,  of  Stoughton,  Mass.,  and  the  same  year 
removed  to  Norwalk,  Ohio,  where  he  established  himself  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession.  He  soon  gained  the  confidence  of 
all  who  knew  him.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Ohio 
Senate  in  1849  and  1850,  and  a  district  judge  of  the  tenth  Ohio 
judicial  district  in  1859.  This  latter  office  he  held  till  1861, 
when  he  was  elected  to  the  lower  house  of  the  United  States 
Congress,  of  which  body  Abraham  Lincoln  was  at  the  same 
time  a  member. 

While  in  the  Ohio  Senate  he  acted  on  a  committee  for  the 
revision  of  the  school  laws  of  the  State,  and  was  instrumental  in 
grafting  upon  them  some  of  the  features  of  the  New  Hampshire 
school  laws. 

He  may  be  said,  without  injustice  to  others,  to  have  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  present  public-school  system  of  Ohio.  To 
him  and  his  wife  the  town  of  Norwalk  is  largely  indebted  for  a 
valuable  public  library,  established  during  their  residence,  and 
which  he  generously  remembered  in  his  will. 

In  Norwalk  he  was  associated  with  the  law  firm  of  Williams 
&  Boalt,  afterwards  Boalt  &  Worcester,  and  finally  Worces- 
ter &  Pennewell.  In  1867  he  removed  to  Nashua,  N.H.,  where 
for  a  time  he  continued  the  practice  of  his  profession ;  was 
chosen  City  Solicitor  for  two  years ;  served  several  terms  on 
the  school  board  of  education,  and  was  continually  active  with 
tongue  and  pen  in  promoting  every  good  cause  up  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  December  6,  1882. 

Judge  Worcester  was  fond  of  the  quiet  pursuits  of  the  scholar, 
and  devoted  much  of  his  leisure  time  to  writing. 

In  1 83 1  he  published  "Sequel  to  the  Spelling  Book;"  in 
1833,  "American  Primary  Spelling  Book;  "  in  1871,  "Revised 
Edition  of  Worcester's  Comprehensive  and  Primary  Diction- 
aries," also,  the  same  year,  "  Old  and  New,"  or  "  The  School 
Systems  of  Ohio  and  New  Hampshire  Compared,"  and,  in  1879, 
"  History  of  the  Town  of  Hollis." 


114  IN  MEM  OR  I  AM. 

In  addition  to  these  works  he  was  a  frequent  contributor  of 
historical  articles  to  the  press. 

He  delivered  the  principal  address  at  the  bi-centennial  celebra- 
tion of  Old  Dunstable,  October  2j,  1873. 

His  last  public  effort  was  an  exhaustive  paper,  read  before  the 
New  Hampshire  Historical  Society,  entitled,  "  New  Hampshire 
at  the  Battle  of  Bunker  Hill." 

On  learning  of  the  death  of  Judge  Worcester,  the  Huron 
County  Bar,  of  Ohio,  of  which  he  was  for  thirty  years  a  mem- 
ber, at  a  meeting  held  at  Norwalk,  December  16,  passed  the 
following  resolutions :  — 

"  Resolved,  That  the  members  of  the  bar  of  Huron  County 
have  heard  with  profound  regret  of  the  death  of  Judge  Samuel 
T.  Worcester,  who  died  at  his  home  in  Nashua,  N.H.,  on  the 
sixth  day  of  December,  1882. 

"  Resolved,  That  in  the  Hon.  Samuel  T.  Worcester  we  recog- 
nize one  who,  in  all  his  relations  with  his  fellow-men,  whether 
in  public  relation  or  in  private  life,  filled  the  full  measure  of  his 
duty.  He  was  a  learned  and  able  jurist,  a  wise  and  safe  coun- 
sellor, a  public-spirited,  liberal,  and  patriotic  citizen,  a  man  of 
pure  life  and  strict  integrity,  and  he  has  left  us  an  example 
worthy  of  all  imitation. 

"  Resolved,  That,  with  the  permission  of  the  Court,  these  res- 
olutions be  spread  upon  the  records,  to  there  remain  as  a  slight 
testimonial  from  the  members  of  the  bar  of  Huron  County  to 
the  worth,  ability,  and  purity  of  character  of  the  deceased  jurist." 

Extended  and  highly  complimentary  remarks  were  made 
upon  the  foregoing  resolutions  by  several  members  of  the  bar, 
all  of  whom  bore  their  unequivocal  testimony  to  his  rare  worth 
as  a  man  and  a  citizen,  and  to  his  unswerving  fidelity  in  all  the 
private  and  public  relations  of  life. 

At  his  funeral,  which  occurred  at  his  late  residence  in  Nashua, 
December  9,  1882,  the  following  address  was  delivered  by  Rev. 
Frederick  Alvord,  of  the  First  Congregational  Church,  his  pas- 
tor for  fourteen  years  :  — 

"  The  passing  away  from  earth  of  such  a  man  as  our  departed 
friend  deserves  more  than  ordinary  mention.  His  form  will  be 
seen  no  more,  but  we  shall  not  soon  forget  the  man.     The  ex- 


SAMUEL    T.    WORCESTER.  115 

ample  he  has  left  is  of  priceless  value,  not  alone  in  its  pure 
quality,  but  in  its  breadth  and  depth,  covering  as  it  did  every 
department  of  his  outward  life.  The  virtues  of  the  dead  are  a 
legacy  to  the  living. 

"  Judge  Worcester  sprang  from  a  representative  New  England 
family.  His  ancestors  were  sturdy,  self-reliant,  religious  men 
and  women  of  the  type  who  planted  the  colonies  of  Plymouth 
and  Massachusetts  Bay.  These  characteristics  were  conspicuous 
in  him.  He  was  a  fine  example  of  a  genuine  New  Englander. 
In  common  with  several  of  his  brothers,  he  sought  and  enjoyed 
the  advantages  of  a  collegiate  education.  Few  families  could 
count  more  children,  or  show  more  intellectual  culture,  than  the 
one  in  which  he  was  born.  I  shall  not  now  speak  of  his  public 
life,  or  of  his  literary  labors,  except  simply  to  say,  that  what- 
ever position  he  held  he  filled  ably  and  faithfully,  whether  in 
the  State  of  his  birth  or  of  his  adoption  ;  in  the  local  or  national 
Legislature;  acting  with  the  Committee  on  Education  in  Ohio, 
or  on  the  School  Board  of  this  city ;  as  a  writer  or  as  an  ad- 
vocate,—  to  the  discharge  of  all  these  varied  duties  he  brought 
a  disciplined  mind,  a  painstaking  patience,  and  an  abiding 
sense  of  responsibility. 

"  It  is  rather  of  him  as  a  man  in  the  deep  underflow  of  his  life 
that  I  shall  chiefly  speak.  If  we  can  find  what  lies  down  there, 
it  will  not  be  difficult  to  determine  the  influence  or  the  value  of 
his  public  services.  The  moral  quality  of  a  man's  character 
diffuses  itself  through  the  whole  circle  of  his  activities.  Soon 
after  coming  to  this  city  I  discovered  what  sort  of  a  man  this  is 
who  has  been  taken  from  us,  and  a  fuller  and  somewhat  intimate 
acquaintance  has  only  served  to  confirm  my  first  opinion.  He 
grew  in  your  esteem  ;  you  did  not  at  first  see  all  there  was  of 
him.  One  needed  to  know  him  well  to  take  the  full  measure  of 
his  worth.  Like  some  precious  jewels,  the  more  carefully  you 
looked  at  him  the  richer  did  his  character  appear.  There  have 
been  many  men  of  wider  knowledge,  of  larger  intellect,  of  more 
commanding  talents  ;  but  I  hesitate  not  to  say  that  there  have 
been  few  men  of  finer  moral  fibre,  of  more  inborn  delicacy  of 
soul,  of  a  more  royal  character.  A  close  analysis  will  bear  out 
these  statements. 


116  IN  MEMORIAM. 

"  The  first  thing  you  noticed  about  him  was  his  hearty  and 
unstudied  frankness.  He  was  an  open  book  that  everybody 
could  read.  The  grasp  of  his  honest  hand  was  both  a  welcome 
and  a  benediction.  No  one  could  feel  ill  at  ease  in  his  house 
or  in  his  presence.  His  cordial  manner  and  large  intelligence 
made  his  society  most  attractive  to  his  friends.  No  man  I  ever 
met  so  much  reminded  me  of  Abraham  Lincoln  as  he  who  so 
lately  animated  this  body.  Not  unlike  him  in  his  general 
appearance,  he  was  strikingly  like  him  in  his  immaculate 
honesty  and  immovable  integrity.  Like  him,  he  had  a  marked 
individuality.  His  best  type  is  found  in  the  granite  hills  of  his 
native  State.  There  was  a  certain  something  about  him  which 
said,  in  unmistakable  language,  "  This  is  an  honest  man."  His 
very  presence  was  a  quick  rebuke  to  the  first  thought  that 
looked  for  his  favor  or  partnership  in  anything  wrong.  Many 
times  have  I  heard  him  express  his  emphatic  disapproval  of 
what  seemed  to  him  indirect  and  dishonest  in  conduct.  So  open 
and  straightforward  was  his  own  way  of  reaching  an  end  that 
any  deviation  from  it  antagonized  his  whole  nature. 

"He  had  a  keen  sense  of  honor,  yea,  he  was  the  very  soul  of 
honor.  He  was  the  last  man  you  might  expect  to  find  doing 
anything  unmanly  or  mean.  It  was  not  in  him  to  stoop  so  low 
as  this.  True  himself,  he  liked  to  trust  others.  Honorable  in 
sentiment  and  in  act  himself,  he  was  quick  to  discern  and  to  value 
this  quality  in  others.  He  would  have  indignantly  repelled  any 
suggestion  compromising  his  honor,  or  leaving  the  smallest  stain 
upon  it.  His  sense  of  honor  made  him  high-minded  and  noble 
to  a  remarkable  degree.  His  feelings  were  refined,  his  desires 
elevated.  There  was  as  little  of  grossness  in  his  moral  nature  as 
we  could  expect  to  find  in  fallen  man. 

"While  such  a  nature  enjoys  much,  it  also  suffers  much,  on 
account  of  the  contrasts  to  which  it  is  constantly  held.  His 
charity  was  abounding.  On  his  tongue  was  the  law  of  kindness. 
While  he  could  not  help  seeing  the  faults  of  others,  he  was  slow 
to  speak  of  them  and  slower  still  to  speak  unkindly.  In  the 
delicacy  and  purity  of  his  nature  he  was  almost  womanly.  Not 
the  whit  the  less  of  a  man  did  this  quality  make  him ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  was  so  blended  with  others,  that  while  it  softened 


SAMUEL    T.    WORCESTER.  117 

them,  it  added  dignity  and  strength  to  his  manly  character. 
Few  men  who  have  mingled  so  much  with  the  world  as  he  did 
have  come  out  with  purer  hearts  or  cleaner  hands.  He  was  un- 
commonly free  from  all  appearance  of  self-seeking  or  of  a  mere 
wordly  ambition.  He  never  learned  the  art  of  trimming,  or  of 
suspicious  reserve,  which  it  is  so  easy  to  learn  in  our  hard  con- 
tacts with  the  world.  He  did  not  know  how  to  shut  up  the 
windows  of  his  soul.  He  did  not  know  how  to  give  you  the 
impression  that  he  knew  vastly  more  than  he  was  willing  to  tell. 
He  put  on  no  airs  of  superior  wisdom.  His  nature  was  pecu- 
liarly transparent.  He  carried  the  simplicity  of  the  child 
through  to  the  end.  He  never  returned  to  his  childhood  traits, 
for  he  never  lost  them. 

"  He  was  large-hearted  and  generous  to  a  fault.  While  scrupu- 
lously careful  to  do  exact  justice  to  all,  he  believed  that  his 
fellow-men  had  other  claims  upon  him  than  those  that  fell  under 
the  letter  of  the  law.  He  recognized  the  fact  that  he  was  a  part 
of  society,  and  that  a  spirit  of  benevolence  is  the  law  of  the 
social  life.  His  heart  overflowed  with  the  milk  of  human  kind- 
ness. No  one  could  fall  within  the  circle  of  his  personality 
without  feeling  the  uplifting  touch  of  a  warm  and  magnanimous 
soul.  His  presence  made  you  better.  He  was  always  ready  to 
help  all  good  causes.  The  Home  for  Aged  Women  in  this  city 
will  not  soon  forget  his  generous  benefactions.  His  gifts  were 
often  bestowed  quietly,  in  a  way  known  to  but  few.  He  had 
the  moral  courage  of  his  convictions.  He  was  quick  to  discern 
the  right  and  firm  to  pursue  it.  He  never  took  counsel  of  self- 
interest  or  of  the  fear  of  man,  when  once  he  had  decided  that 
he  ought  to  pursue  a  given  line  of  action.  The  only  question 
he  asked  was:  "  Is  it  right?  "  He  would  have  plucked  out  an 
eye  sooner  than  deliberately  do  wrong.  And  yet,  with  all  this 
strength  of  conviction,  he  was  catholic  in  his  feelings  and  gen- 
erous in  his  judgments.  He  cheerfully  accorded  to  others  the 
same  rights  of  opinion  which  he  claimed  for  himself.  He  never 
tried  to  separate  himself  from  what  he  did.  He  recognized  the 
fact  that*  a  man's  character  is  stamped  upon  all  his  acts,  public 
and  private,  and  that  the  responsibility  of 'them  belongs  to  him 
alone.     This  clear  discernment  of  right,  and  willingness  to  do 


118  IN  MEMORIAM. 

it,  easily  placed  him  among  the  foremost  of  the  friends  of  moral 
reform.  He  was  a  born  reformer.  No  one  ever  had  a  more 
painful  sense  of  the  evils  of  intemperance  than  he.  No  one 
ever  sought  more  honestly  to  remove  them.  We  all  remember 
a  few  years  ago,  how  earnestly  he  and  his  most  efficient  wife 
tried  to  break  the  power  of  this  evil  among  us.  He  ardently 
loved  the  cause  of  moral  reform  in  all  its  departments,  and 
rejoiced  at  every  sign  of  progress. 

"He  was  exceedingly  affectionate.  Only  those  who  knew  him 
intimately  can  understand  this.  His  devotion  to  his  wife,  while 
living,  was  beautiful ;  his  loyalty  to  her  memory  since  her  death 
has  been  equally  beautiful.  It  has  been  his  aim,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, to  do  in  all  things  as  he  thought  she  would  have  him  do. 

"  His  domestic  relations  were  exceedingly  happy.  His  wife 
was  a  woman  of  strong  intellect  and  independent  judgment, 
and  she  proved  to  be  his  trusted  companion  and  most  efficient 
helper.  They  were  admirably  adapted  to  each  other,  and  their 
mutual  confidence  was  something  to  be  admired  and  imitated. 

"Blessed  with  no  children  of  their  own,  they  adopted  a  niece 
of  Mrs.  Worcester,  whom  they  tenderly  cherished,  and  who  be- 
came the  wife  of  Dr.  L.  W.  Puffer,  of  Brockton,  Mass.,  where 
she  still  resides. 

"  Mrs.  Worcester  died  April,  1874,  and  the  discourse  preached 
on  the  occasion  of  her  funeral  by  her  pastor,  Rev.  F.  Alvord, 
was  published. 

"Judge  Worcester  was  fond  of  his  kindred,  and  extended  to 
them  an  open-handed  hospitality.  He  was  always  happy  to 
have  his  neighbors  and  friends  call  upon  him.  He  was  a  good 
listener  as  well  as  a  good  talker.  A  social  hour  in  his  house 
was  a  rare  privilege.  The  heartiness  of  his  welcome  when  you 
entered  was  equalled  only  by  that  of  his  "  Call  again,"  when  you 
left. 

"  Judge  Worcester  was  a  true  Christian  gentleman,  I  may  say 
one  of  the  best  examples.  There  was  nothing  artificial  about 
him.  He  was  just  what  he  appeared  to  be.  With  him  to  be 
gentlemanly  was  both  an  instinct  and  a  principle.  He  Sid  not 
learn  it  from  the  schools.  Nature  gave  it  to  him.  It  was  in- 
born. 


SAMUEL    T.     WORCESTER.  119 

"  The  gentleman  cannot  be  made  anymore  than  the  poet.  At 
first  his  somewhat  rough  exterior  and  brusque  manner  had  a 
momentary  tendency  to  repel,  especially  if  you  did  not  know 
him  very  well ;  but  you  would  soon  discover  that  true  grace 
and  beauty  belong  to  something  deeper  than  what  the  eye  sees. 
You  would  quickly  forget  what  it  was  that  gave  you  that  first 
repulse  in  your  admiration  of  his  superb  qualities  of  mind  and 
of  heart.  How  polite  he  was  !  What  courteousness  !  What 
suavity,  even  !  There  was  something  in  the  very  tone  of  his 
voice,  which  bespoke  refinement  of  soul,  and  the  instincts  of  a 
true  gentleman  ;  you  were  thankful  to  be  permitted  to  feel  the 
touch  of  such  a  pure  and  lofty  nature,  that  you  might,  if  possi- 
ble, be  lifted  to  his  level. 

"  He  was  a  religious  man,  —  more,  he  was  a  Christian  man.  He 
drank  in  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  religion  from  his  ancestors, 
and  this  fact,  no  doubt,  had  much  to  do  in  forming  his  own  relig- 
ious character.  I  would  not  offer  any  conjectures,  but  I  may 
speak  of  that  I  do  know.  From  repeated  conversations  with 
him,  I  am  confident  that  he  held  to  the  essentials  of  the  Christian 
faith.  Religion  with  him  was  practical  rather  than  theoretical. 
He  believed  more  in  the  witnessing  life  than  in  the  verbal  decla- 
ration. He  sought  for  the  fruits,  and  he  had  no  confidence  in 
the  creed  that  did  not  give  corresponding  fruits.  He  accepted 
the  Bible  in  the  substance  of  its  teachings  as  a  revelation  from 
God,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour  of  man. 
And  he  who  can  do  this,  although  in  some  other  respects  his 
faith  may  not  have  that  symmetry  we  could  wish,  is  clearly  entitled 
to  the  name  Christian.  He  studied  God's  word.  He  was  a 
man  of  prayer.  It  is  not  for  us  to  judge  any  one ;  God  only 
pronounces  righteous  judgment. 

"'By  their  fruits,'  says  the  Master,  '  ye  shall  know  them.' 
One  may  hold  in  his  heart  the  living  essence  of  truths  which  he 
shrinks  from  attempting  to  put  into  words,  and  could  not  if  he 
should  attempt  it.  He  showed  his  consistency  by  a  careful 
observance  of  the  Sabbath  and  of  public  worship.  He  believed 
in  the  historic  Christian  church,  and  gratefully  recognized  its 
great  work  for  man. 

"  He  kept  himself  thoroughly  informed  in  regard  to  the  state  of 


120  IN  MEMORIAM. 

the  religious  world.  He  habitually  read  the  '  Congrega- 
tionalist '  and  the  '  Missionary  Herald.'  Holding,  as  he  did, 
peculiar  views  on  some  points  of  doctrine,  he  might  naturally 
have  excused  himself  from  participating  in  the  work  and  worship 
of  any  of  the  churches  of  this  city.  Instead  of  this,  however, 
he  was  a  cordial  supporter  of  the  Church  of  Christ  among  us, 
and  at  his  former  home  in  Ohio.  After  the  death  of  his  wife, 
more  than  eight  years  ago,  he  withdrew  little  by  little  from 
public  life,  and  sought  retirement  in  his  home,  where  he  divided 
his  time  between  the  use  of  his  pen  and  the  enjoyment  of  the 
leisure  which  his  age  and  industry  had  so  well  earned.  He 
grew  lonely.  His  large  circle  of  brothers  and  sisters  was  re- 
duced to  four.  Almost  all  his  schoolmates  in  Hollis  and  his 
college  classmates  at  Harvard  were  gone.  He  stood  almost 
alone  among  the  children  of  his  own  generation,  now  only  a 
remnant. 

"  In  these  circumstances  it  was  natural  that  he  should  lean 
more  and  more  towards  the  spiritual  world,  whither  so  many  of 
his  kindred  and  friends  had  gone  before  him.  He  longed  for 
their  companionship.  For  the  last  year  it  has  been  evident  that  he 
was  nearing  the  end  of  his  journey.  Of  late  he  has  frequently 
said  that  his  stay  could  not  be  long.  His  arrangements  for  his 
departure  were  deliberate,  careful,  minute.  For  the  final  sum- 
mons we  cannot  doubt  that  he  was  ready,  even  glad  to  obey. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  that  we  shall  see  his  pleasant  face  and  com- 
manding form  on  these  streets  no  more.  On  the  6th  day  of 
December,  1882, —  a  day  that  will  be,  forever  memorable  in 
astronomical  science,  at  high  noon,  at  the  very  time  when  so 
many  eyes  on  this  little  planet  were  eagerly  gazing  at  the  sun 
to  witness  the  transit  of  Venus,  his  liberated  spirit  took  its  flight 
somewhere  among  these  rolling  spheres  to  the  mansions  of  the 
Father,  to  the  '  house  not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.' 

"The  removal  of  a  man  whose  character  was  so  transparent  in 
its  purity,  and  whose  life  was  such  a  positive  force  for  good,  is 
a  great  loss  to  this  community.  It  will  be  deeply  felt.  His 
exalted  worth  is  a  rich  legacy  and  a  stimulating  example  to  the 
young  men  of  this  city  and  to  us  all.  God  grant  that  these  may 
not  be  lost." 


SAMUEL   M.    EMERY. 

1804  — 1883. 


BY  HIS    WIFE,    MARY    H.    EMERY,  OF   NEWBURYPORT,  MASS. 


SAMUEL  MOODY  EMERY,  son  of  Moody  and  Abigail 
Prescott  Emery,  was  born  in  that  part  of  the  town  of 
Newbury,  Massachusetts,  now  called  West  Newbury, 
A.D.  1804.  His  father  was  a  descendant  of  John  Emery,  one 
of  the  early  settlers  of  "  ould  Newbury."  Samuel  was  the 
fourth  of  five  children.  His  health,  in  early  life,  was  delicate; 
but,  by  the  Divine  blessing  and  the  care  of  a  devoted  mother, 
and  the  simple  habits  of  the  country,  he  developed  a  constitu- 
tion enduring,  though  not  robust.  He  was  remarkable  for  agility, 
excelling  all  his  playmates  in  running  and  leaping.  For  the 
greater  part  of  his  life  he  was  a  rapid  and  almost  untiring 
walker. 

In  youth  he  was  noted  for  uprightness  of  conduct.  A  friend 
who  remembers  him  in  boyhood  describes  him  as  one  always 
to  be  depended  upon  to  speak  the  truth  on  any  occasion  of 
dispute.  Another,  a  few  years  his  junior,  writes,  "  His  in- 
flunce  over  me,  when  a  motherless  boy,  was  most  satisfactory." 

Mrv  Emery's  reminiscences  of  the  first  school  he  attended 
—  presided  over  by  a  lady  called  "  Ma'am  Jewett"  — were  very 
amusing  as  related  by  him,  in  after  years,  to  entertain  his 
children.  When  considered  old  and  strong  enough  he  was 
promoted  to  this  public  school  near  his  own  home. 

He  was  prepared  for  college  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  and 
entered  Harvard  University,  1826.  While  in  college  he 
employed   his  winter  vacations  in   teaching   school,  to    assist   in 


122  IN  MEMORIAM. 

defraying  his  expenses.  Being  obliged  to  exert  himself,  he 
appreciated  his  advantages  and  was  diligent  in  study.  His 
standing  in  college  was  good,  as  he  was  among  those  who  had 
"parts"  for  Commencement.  A  classmate  thus  writes  of  him; 
"  In  college  he  was  the  same  modest,  unassuming  person  he 
was  in  all  the  years  after  graduation.  So  early  as  college  life 
he  developed  his  high-toned  character  and  stainless  reputation." 

After  his  graduation,  in  1830,  he  continued  his  occupation 
of  teaching.  In  March,  1831,  he  took  charge  of  the  clas- 
sical department  of  Northfield  Academy,  and  remained  in 
that  school  three  terms.  He  was,  from  October  12,  1831,  to 
August,  1833,  Instructor  of  the  Young  Ladies'  High  School, 
at  Portsmouth,  N.H.  Here  he  made  many  agreeable  acquaint- 
ances, and  some  valued  friends.  One  of  these  was  the  Rev. 
Charles  Burroughs,  D.D.,  rector  of  St.  John's  Church,  by  whom 
he  was  baptized  on  Sept.  3,  1832.  On  the  next  Sunday  he  was 
confirmed  by  the  Rt.  Rev.  A.  V.  Griswold,  Bishop  of  the  East- 
ern diocese. 

Sometime  previous,  while  a  teacher  in  Lowell,  Mr.  Emery 
had  become  acquainted  with  the  saintly  rector  of  St.  Anne's 
Church  in  that  city,  whose  instructions  and  example  must  have 
influenced  him  favorably  towards  this  step  which  he  took  at 
Portsmouth.  His  faith  in  the  church  of  which  he  then  became 
a  member  was  intelligent,  founded  upon  a  settled  conviction  that 
it  was  a  branch  of  the  "  one  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church," 
and  never  wavered,  but  was  held  as  a  "  sound  Churchman " 
believes  it. 

He  became  a  candidate  for  Holy  Orders  while  at  Portsmouth. 
He  took  a  room  at  Cambridge,  November  15,  and  pursued  the 
study  of  theology  under  the  direction  of  Rev.  Dr.  Coit.  Sub- 
sequently he  was  instructed  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wainwright,  then 
rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Boston.  While  engaged  in  preparing 
for  Orders  Mr.  Emery  still  instructed  pupils. 

In  the  winter  of  1835  he  had  the  care  of  several  students, 
who  had  been  sent  from  college  to  Lancaster,  —  the  gentleman 
in  whose  charge  they  were  placed  being  chosen  a  member  of 
the  State  Legislature,  and  obliged  to  procure  a  substitute.  Mr. 
Emery  was  occupied  with  this  duty  about  three  months. 


SAMUEL  M.    EMERY.  123 

He  returned  to  Cambridge,  and  on  July  28,  1835,  was  or~ 
dained  Deacon,  with  two  other  candidates,  in  (old)  Trinity 
Church,  Boston.  Mr.  Emery  was  presented  by  the  Rev.  William 
Croswell,  then  rector  of  Christ  Church,  where  he  preached  his 
first  sermon. 

On  1 2th  December,  1835,  ne  left  Cambridge  to  go  to  Chat- 
ham (now  Portland), —  a  town  beautifully  situated  on  the  Con- 
necticut River,  opposite  the  city  of  Middletown.  Here  he 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  assistant  to  the  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  —  the  Rev.  William  Jarvis,  —  disabled  by  laryngitis. 
The  parish  was  an  important  one,  having  built  a  new  church  in 
1830,  and  the  illness  of  the  rector,  in  the  midst  of  his  usefulness, 
was  disheartening  to  his  congregation  and  himself.  He  received 
and  treated  his  curate  and  successor,  who  for  nearly  six  years 
resided  in  his  family,  as  a  younger  brother.  As  Mr.  Jarvis  did 
not  recover  the  use  of  his  voice  sufficiently  to  resume  his  work 
of  preaching,  Mr.  Emery  was  elected  to  the  rectorship  in  April, 
1837.  The  former  rector  and  his  family  retained  their  pleasant 
home  in  Portland  until  1852,  and  were  then,  and  after  their  re- 
moval, most  kind  and  generous  friends  to  Mr.  Emery  and  his 

household.    Mrs.  C ,  of  Hartford,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Jarvis, 

writes  of  Dr.  Emery,  since  his  death,  as  one  "  who  has  been  a 
life-long  friend,  and  who,  as  the  years  went  on,  seemed  more 
and  more  as  a  kinsman,  beloved  for  his  noble  worth,  and  his 
holy,  blameless  life." 

The  new  rector  was  admitted  to  Priests'  Orders  by  the  Rt. 
Rev.  T.  C.  Brownell,  Bishop  of  Connecticut,  in  Trinity  Church, 
Chatham,  May  14,  1837.  From  the  first,  Mr.  Emery  entered 
with  his  whole  strength  into  his  parish  duties.  If  he  heard  of  a 
case  of  illness  or  affliction  among  the  people  of  his  charge,  he 
did  not  wait  for  a  summons,  but  attended  them  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. He  sought  to  be  acquainted  with  all  his  parishioners, 
and  felt  acutely  their  joys  and  sorrows.  Were  there  space 
many  interesting  incidents  of  his  pastoral  visits  could  be  cited. 
His  advice  on  secular  as  well  as  religious  matters  was  often 
sought. 

He  was  married,  Nov.  17,  1841,  to  Mary  H.  Emery,  daughter 
of   Eliphalet  Emery,  Esq.,  of  West  Newbury,  Massachusetts. 


]  24  IN  MEMORIAM. 

Seven  children  were  born  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Emery,  of  whom  six 
survive  their  beloved  and  honored  father. 

In  his  home,  Mr.  Emery  seemed  an  exemplification  of 
"  Herbert's  Country  Parson,"  making  allowance  for  differences 
of  countries  and  times.  The  kindest  husband  and  father,  he 
ruled  "  his  children  and  his  own  house  well."  He  practised 
hospitality,  keeping  his  house  open  to  his  parishioners,  and  de- 
licrhtinCT  to  entertain  friends  from  out  of  town  and  brethren  of 
the  clergy.  He  was  fond  of  young  people,  and  attracted  them 
by  his  cheerful  conversation,  in  which  a  vein  of  humor  was  per- 
ceptible. He  retained  nearly  to  the  close  of  life  his  aptness 
to  teach.  He  prepared  several  young  men  for  Trinity  College, 
Hartford,  —  one  for  the  Sophomore  Class. 

He  frequently  preached  three  times  on  Sundays,  and  held 
service  on  other  days  and  evenings.  His  sermons,  of  which  he 
left  a  large  number,  were  usually  prepared  with  much  thought 
and  labor.  He  was  an  earnest  preacher,  and  commanded  the 
attention  of  a  congregation.  When  very  thoroughly  roused 
and  animated  by  his  subject,  he  became  truly  eloquent.  If  he 
had  had  more  self-assertion,  if  he  had  preached  "  himself" 
more,  instead  of  "Christ  Jesus  the  Lord;"  if  his  object  had 
been  to  become  "  a  sensational  preacher,"  he  might  have  made 
more  noise  in  the  world  ;  but  he  felt  too  deeply  and  sincerely 
the  sacredness  of  his  office  to  carry  secular  subjects  or  religious 
gossip  into  the  pulpit.  His  endeavor  was  to  instruct  his  pa- 
rishioners in  the  doctrines  "which  a  Christian  ought  to  know  and 
believe  to  his  soul's  health,"  and  in  their  duties  to  God  and  their 
neighbor. 

Before  Dr.  Emery  left  Connecticut  he  had  the  pleasure  of 
assisting  in  services  at  the  laying  of  the  "  corner-stone  "  of  a 
neat  rural  chapel,  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  town,  the  result  of  a 
mission  begun  by  him  and  carried  on  with  the  help  of  a  divinity 
student.  In  less  than  a  year  after  leaving  Portland  he  returned 
to  be  present  at  the  consecration  of  this  chapel, —  "  St.  John 
Baptist." 

In  1838  Mr.  Emery  received  the  degree  of  A.M.  from  Trinity 
College,  Hartford,  and  of  S.T.D.,  in  1864,  from  the  same  insti- 
tution. 


SAMUEL  M.    EMERY.  125 

For  some  time  previous  to  leaving  the  State  Dr.  Emery  was 
one  of  the  trustees  of  Berkeley  Divinity  School,  in  Middletown. 
At  this  city  there  was  an  able  corps  of  clergy,  with  the  godly 
and  learned  Bishop  Williams  at  their  head.  Dr.  Emery  was  on 
terms  of  intimate  friendship  with  many  of  these,  and  with  other 
neighboring  clergymen,  some  of  them  much  younger  than 
himself. 

He  made  no  display  of  his  piety,  but  no  one  who  witnessed 
his  self-denying  devotion  to  duty  could  doubt  the  principle 
which  actuated  him  ;  and  in  his  private  diary  his  serene  faith  in 
God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  is,  from  time  to  time, 
expressed. 

He  resigned  the  rectorship  of  Trinity  Church,  Portland,  on 
Easter  Monday,  1870,  the  resignation  taking  effect  June  19,  the 
same  year.  Before  the  close  of  summer  the  whole  family  were 
settled  in  West  Newbury,  Massachusetts,  on  an  ancestral  farm, 
part  of  which  was  "  laid  out  unto  John  Emery  Jun.,"  in  1644. 
Dr.  Emery  did  not  desire  another  rectorship  ;  but,  wishing  to 
serve  in  the  ministry,  he  supplied  vacant  parishes  as  opportun- 
ity offered,  or  assisted  other  clergymen,  —  especially  the  Rev. 
George  D.  Johnson,  elected  rector  of  St.  Paul's,  Newburyport, 
near  the  close  of  the  year  1870,  and  remaining  about  five  years. 
Dr.  Emery's  relations  with  him  were  very  pleasant. 

In  West  Newbury  Dr.  Emery  was  Superintendent  of  Public 
Schools,  from  1871  to  February  or  March,  1874. 

After  changing  his  residence  to  Newburyport,  November,  1873, 
he  officiated,  as  before,  in  different  places,  sometimes  many  con- 
secutive Sundays  in  a  parish.  He  often  performed  offices  of  the 
Church,  and,  during  the  absence  of  the  rector  of  St.  Paul's 
Church,  had  the  pastoral  care  of  that  parish  for  a  number  of 
weeks.  He  was  "  minister-in-charge  "  of  St.  James'  Church, 
Amesbury,  for  about  two  years. 

In  the  spring  of  1882  Dr.  Emery  and  family  returned  to  their 
West  Newbury  home.  He  was  now  unable  to  officiate  in 
public,  but  held  divine  service  in  his  own  house  nearly  every 
Sunday  morning,  to  the  end  of  his  life.  On  two  occasions  he 
said  the  office  for  the  Burial  of  the  Dead,  at  dwellings  about 
two  miles  from  his  own. 


126  IN  MEM  OUT  AM. 

He  interested  himself  in  the  cultivation  of  his  farm,  and  kindly 
cared  for  the  comfort  of  those  employed  on  it.  He  was  an 
example  of  patience,  and  even  cheerfulness.  It  was  a  sore  trial 
to  him  to  give  up  the  active  duties  of  his  life-work,  but  his  trust 
in  the  Divine  goodness  sustained  him.  He  had  a  great  dread 
of  giving  trouble  to  others,  and  feared  losing  his  ability  to  be 
useful.  He  was  mercifully  spared  from  realizing  this  fear.  He 
had  been  for  months  an  invalid,  but  did  not  give  up  taking 
exercise  out  of  doors,  and  attended  to  many  affairs.  On  Sunday, 
August  12,  he  officiated  at  the  service  in  his  house  with  much 
energy.  On  the  15th  he  was  not  well,  but  continued  his  accus- 
tomed employments,  until  afternoon,  when  he  had  an  attack  of 
indigestion.  He  seemed  partially  relieved  early  in  the  evening. 
Later,  alarming  symptoms  occurred,  which  increased,  with  some 
intermissions,  till  about  ten  o'clock  the  next  morning,  when  he 
quietly  entered  into  rest.  He  was  conscious  much  of  the  time 
of  his  short  illness,  spoke  affectionately  to  those  around  him, 
joined  devoutly  in  the  prayers  offered  by  his  bedside  by  the 
rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Newburyport,  responding  with  an 
audible  voice  the  "Aniens,"  and  repeated  distinctly  the  Lord's 
Prayer. 

His  funeral  was  attended,  on  the  morning  of  the  20th, 
from  St.  Paul's  Church,  Newburyport.  The  rector  and  seven 
of  the  clergy  were  present  there,  and  at  the  Belleville  Ceme- 
tery, where,  with  holy  rites,  his  body  was  laid  to  "  rest  in 
hope." 

The  large  congregation  of  friends  at  the  church  showed  the 
loving  estimation  in  which  the  deceased  was  held. 

The  Rt.  Rev.  the  Bishop  of  Massachusetts,  being  prevented 
from  attending,  expressed  in  a  letter  of  condolence  to  the 
bereaved  family  his  high  regard  for  the  departed. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  minute,  adopted  by  the 
Vestry  of  Trinity  Church,  Portland,  Conn.,  after  Dr.  Emery's 
death :  — 

"  As  assistant  and  rector  his  ministry  in  Portland  covered  a 
period  of  thirty-five  years,  the  longest  in  our  annals.  From 
1835  to  1870  he  broke  the  bread  of  life  to  feed  the  flock  of 
God  committed  to  his  care ;   he  went  in  and  out  among  us  as  a 


SAMUEL   M.    EMERY.  127 

faithful  imitator  of  the  Good  Shepherd,  and  '  an  example  of 
the  believers  in  word,  in  conversation,  in  spirit,  in  faith,  in 
purity.'  Two  generations  of  parishioners  remember  with  grati- 
tude his  kindly  ministrations,  and  look  to  see  him  receive  the 
crown  of  life  when  the  Chief  Shepherd  shall  appear." 

A  writer  in  the  "  Hartford  Evening  Post "  says  of  Dr.  Emery, 
as  rector  of  Trinity  Church,  Portland  :  "  He  had  the  respect 
and  confidence  of  the  whole  people  of  the  town,  without  regard 
to  religious  beliefs  or  party  preferences.  In  a  word,  he  was  a 
'  Christian  gentleman,'  and  many  are  the  word  tributes  of 
loving  respect  that  have  been  uttered  here.  .  .  .  Dr. 
Emery's  labors  were  not  confined  to  his  own  parish.  For 
thirty-two  years  he  had  supervision  of  the  public  schools  of  the 
town,  and  no  one  will  venture  to  say  that  they  were  ever  in  a 
better  condition  than  during  that  time.  He  also  held  religious 
services  at  the  almshouse  at  stated  periods,  and  in  other  remote 
parts  of  the  town.  He  obtruded  his  religious  belief  upon  no 
one,  but  by  his  kind  heart  and  unaffected  modesty  '  drew  men 
unto  him.' " 


GEORGE   WASHINGTON   WARREN. 
1813  —  1883. 


BY    HIS     CLASSMATE,    THOMAS    C.    AMORY. 


GEORGE     WASHINGTON     WARREN,    son    of    Isaac 
Warren   and  Abigail   Fiske,  was  born   in    Charlestown, 
now  part  of  the  city  of  Boston,  October   1,  1813.     He 
died  in  that  city,  in  the  house  next  west  of  the  Boston  Athe- 
naeum, May  13,  1883. 

That  the  first  American  progenitor  of  this  name  was  like 
Macenas,  as  Horace  relates  in  the  first  line  of  the  Odes,  atavis 
editus  regibus,  —  a  very  common  privilege,  if  any  it  be,  —  has 
been  made  clear  by  the  work  of  Doctor  John  C.  Warren  upon 
the  descendants  of  Gundreda.  It  seems  more  than  probable 
that  his  ancestor,  John,  who  came  over  to  Massachusetts  in 
1630,  with  Winthrop  and  Saltonstall,  was  brother  of  Richard  of 
Plymouth,  and  the  father  of  Peter,  from  whom  the  author  of 
that  work  traces  his  descent.  That  John,  the  ancestor  of  the 
Warrens  of  Watertown,  was  identical  with  the  companion  of 
Saltonstall,  seems  difficult  to  doubt.  We  reserve  for  a  more 
fitting  occasion  the  grounds  of  this  belief;  not  that  they  are 
without  interest  here,  where  the  name  and  blood  of  the  War- 
rens are  so  largely  represented,  but  for  the  reason  that  this 
memoir  of  our  classmate  already  occupies  so   many  pages. 

In  the  sixth  generation  from  this  John  (1 585-1667),  who 
settled  at  Watertown,  on  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  1630,  his 
ascending  line  of  ancestry  are:  Isaac,  1 758—1 834  ;  Elisha,  1716- 
1795;  John,  1 684-1 745  ;  John,  1 665-1 703  ;  Daniel.  All  of  them 
appear  to  have  possessed  the  sterling  qualities  to  win  from  their 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON   WARREN.  129 

contemporaries  affection  and  respect.  Their  memories,  kept 
in  mind  by  many  a  monument  of  their  own  achievement,  are 
still  cherished  by  their  descendants  as  their  most  precious  heir- 
loom. They  in  turn  inherited  and  transmitted  that  good  sense, 
integrity,  and  thrift  which  secured  to  them,  as  their  genera- 
tions moved  on,  health  and  happiness,  the  confidence  of  the 
public,  with  a  fair  share  of  official  responsibilities  and  honors. 
The  trust  in  providence,  which  insured  them  independence, 
and  in  so  many  ways  constituted  life  a  blessing,  is  observable 
in  what  we  know  of  their  experiences  and  in  the  correspond- 
ence they  have  left. 

George's  father  had  already  been  twice  a  widower  when,  in 
1 8 10,  he  married  Abigail  Fiske,  the  widow  of  Isaac  Lamson,  of 
Weston,  who  was  born  April  4,  1769,  and  died  1858,  at  the  ad- 
vanced age  of  eighty-nine.  We  find  frequent  intermarriages 
between  the  Warrens,  Lamsons,  and  Fiskes,  —  families  all  alike 
honored  and  honorable  in  their  various  branches.  The  Fiskes 
were  especially  distinguished  as  divines  in  the  puritan  pulpit, 
as  able  expounders  and  eloquent  preachers.  The  Warrens 
may  have  been  somewhat  more  independent  in  their  religious 
belief.  We  find  that  John,  the  original  patriarch,  who  had 
settled  at  Watertown,  had  acquired  there  a  large  estate.  He 
served  as  selectman  from  1636  to  1640.  When  Endicott  ruled 
the  colony,  1651-1661,  he  was  proceeded  against  for  expressing 
his  dissent,  not  long  before  he  died,  to  portions  of  the  Cam- 
bridge platform.  His  descendants  were  generally,  however, 
steadfast  to  the  faith  of  their  fathers,  and  George's  parents, 
rigid  Calvinists,  would  have  been  pleased  if  their  son,  the 
subject  of  this  memoir,  had  kept  true  to  the  ancestral  belief. 

When  eight  years  of  age,  in  182 1,  he  was  sent  to  board  with 
Rev.  Mr.  Webster,  at  Hampton,  on  the  southern  borders  of 
New  Hampshire,  that  he  might  attend  the  Academy  at  that 
place.  Here  he  remained  two  years.  From  the  summer  of 
1823  to  the  summer  of  1824  he  was  at  the  Framingham 
Academy,  and  the  next  year  at  that  of  Stowe,  where  he  met 
his  future  wife,  a  scholar  at  the  same  school.  Such  opportu- 
nities for  studying  the  marvels  of  nature  at  the  period  of  life 
when  the  mind  and  imagination  are  peculiarly  sensitive  to  their 


130  IN  MEM  OKI  AM. 

impressions  were  not  thrown  away  on  one  so  happily  consti- 
tuted. His  teachers  were  of  the  best  to  inspire  a  taste  for 
knowledge,  to  quicken  his  mental  faculties,  as  also  to  develop 
his  sense  of  right. 

The  letters  of  his  father,  still  extant,  and  which  he  often 
reperused  as  he  progressed,  were  admirably  calculated  to 
form  his  character  upon  elevated  standards,  to  instil  principles 
of  religious  responsibility  and  dependence,  which  he  exempli- 
fied in  his  character  and  conduct  throughout  the  vicissitudes  of 
his  life.  In  selecting  Amherst  for  his  collegiate  course  his 
father  may  have  in  some  measure  been  actuated  by  one  of  his 
wife's  brothers  having  been  connected  with  that  institution  as  a 
professor ;  he  also  cherished  the  hope  that  the  influences  of  the 
place  might  dispose  George  to  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  so 
many  of  his  progenitors  and  become  a  Puritan  minister.  An- 
other brother  of  Mrs.  Warren,  Dr.  Thaddeus  Fiske,  was  settled 
over  the  parish  of  West  Cambridge,  now  Arlington,  for  half  a 
century.  He  was  himself  a  deacon  in  the  First  Church  of 
Charlestown,  of  which  Dr.  Morse,  the  geographer,  was  pastor. 
By  nature  and  nurture  preeminently  religious  and  devout,  the 
concerns  of  this  life  were  less  precious  in  his  sight  than  those 
of  that  to  come. 

To  a  young  lad  of  twelve,  of  an  ardent  temperament,  jealous 
of  restraint,  with  special  aptitude  for  enjoyment,  such  a  future 
as  that  his  father  in  the  goodness  of  his  heart  had  planned 
for  him  was  peculiarly  distasteful.  The  gloomy  austerities  of 
Amherst  soon  became  repugnant  to  all  his  conceptions  of  what 
was  pleasant  and  agreeable.  He  had  not  been  long  within  its 
walls  before  his  forebodings  were  more  than  realized.  Dis- 
pleased and  discontented  he  besought  his  father  with  respectful 
firmness  to  remove  him  to  Harvard,  where  his  surroundings 
would  be  more  congenial.  The  parental  decision,  that  he 
better  remain  where  he  was,  he  obeyed,  and  with  filial  affection 
and  reverence  he  submitted  even  with  a  good  grace  to  what  he 
could  not  control.  He  frequently  afterwards,  in  all  frankness, 
returned  to  the  subject  in  his  correspondence  and  conversation, 
and  to  one  whose  pains  had  been  untiring  to  form  his  mind  and 
character  it  must  have  pleased  the   father  to  see   this  mark  of 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON   WARREN.  131 

independence  in  stating  fearlessly  his  reasons  for  the  faith  that 
was  in  him. 

He  had  been  nearly  two  years  at  Amherst  when  an  incident 
occurred,  somewhat  distressing  to  them  both  at  the  time,  to  set 
him  free.  One  day,  emptying  a  bowl  of  water  from  his  window 
down  upon  the  footpath  underneath,  some  drops  sprinkled  the 
dress  of  a  member  of  the  faculty  who  was  passing,  too  much 
absorbed  in  his  meditations  to  take  heed  of  any  such  possibility 
of  peril.  It  may  have  been  unintentional.  There  seems,  how- 
ever, to  have  been  some  suspicion  that  it  was  from  design,  and 
to  resent  some  supposed  injustice.  It  ruffled  the  temper  of  the 
don,  who  reported  the  misdemeanor,  though  Mr.  Warren  and 
his  friends  endeavored  to  avert  the  consequences  as  out  of  pro- 
portion to  the  offence.  The  government  of  the  college,  in- 
censed at  this  presumed  indignity  to  one  of  their  august  body, 
were  not  to  be  appeased.     George  was  suspended. 

It  seems  to  have  been  his  good  fortune  to  pursue  his  studies 
under  favorable  conditions  for  diligence  and  in  pleasant  places, 
where  nature  presented  to  his  plastic  spirit  in  the  scenery  and 
cultivation  about  him  much  both  to  charm  and  instruct.  In 
charge  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Stowe,  of  Braintree,  he  worked  with 
little  interruption,  and  in  1827,  well  fitted  for  his  examination,  he 
became  at  last,  as  he  had  so  long  eagerly  desired,  a  student  of 
Harvard.  He  entered  the  Sophomore  class,  and,  though  he  had 
only  attained  his  fourteenth  year,  his  own  experience,  the  in- 
structions of  many  cultivated  minds,  eager  for  his  own  sake  and 
his  father's  to  quicken  his  mind  and  discipline  his  character, 
had  not  been  in  vain. 

His  diligence  within  the  college  walls  at  Cambridge  continued 
unabated,  and  though  the  youngest  of  his  classmates,  and 
many  of  them  very,  much  older  than  himself  and  more  mature, 
he  ranked  well  for  scholarship.  He  gained  and  kept  the 
respect  of  the  professors  and  teachers,  formed  many  lasting 
friendships  with  his  classmates  and  with  those  in  the  classes 
above  and  below,  and  was  generally  beloved.  For  the  Hasty 
Pudding  Society  he  wrote  a  poem  in  1829,  and  in  1830,  chosen 
class  poet,  another  for  that  occasion,  which,  well  conceived  and 
happily  phrased,  deserved  and  elicited  applause. 


132  IN  MEM  OR  JAM. 

In  the  winter  vacation  of  the  year  that  he  graduated,  as  was 
then  not  unusual  where  such  opportunities  offered,  he  was  an 
assistant  teacher  of  the  Warren  Academy  at  Woburn,  which 
his  father  had  recently  founded.  His  father  had  not  abandoned 
the  hope,  now  that  he  had  obtained  his  degree,  that  he  would 
carry  out  the  plan  still  fondly  cherished,  and  become  an  Ortho- 
dox minister.  But  when  he  urged  upon  him  the  study  of 
divinity,  he  found  to  his  grief  that  George  had  conscientious 
scruples,  having  become  sceptical  as  to  the  Westminster  Cate- 
chism and  Cambridge  platform.  What  he  had  apprehended 
from  the  influences  of  Harvard,  and  which  had  led  to  his  pref- 
erence for  Amherst,  had  come  to  pass,  for  his  son  had  become 
a  Unitarian.  He  was  too  firmly  fixed  in  his  own  religious 
views  not  to  he  disappointed,  too  sincere  a  Christian  himself  to 
disturb  the  faith  of  another.  This  disappointment  did  not 
lessen  their  cordial  affection,  and  they  remained  good  friends  as 
before. 

This  inability  to  carry  out  his  father's  plan  for  him  had  one 
good  effect.  He  felt  it  all  the  more  incumbent  upon  him  to 
be  permanently  pecuniarily  independent  of  his  father,  and  he 
accepted  an  offer  made  to  him  to  become  assistant  teacher  in 
the  Friends'  Academy  at  New  Bedford.  The  next  year  he 
opened,  under  his  own  tuition,  a  classical  school  for  young 
ladies,  which  continued  until  1834.  Coming  fresh  from  the 
instruction  of  Harvard,  which,  if  not  as  varied  and  complete  as 
at  present,  made  many  excellent  scholars,  with  his  harness  on, 
his  mind  well  furnished,  his  aesthetic  nature  vivid  with  his  own 
considerable  experiences  in  life  and  extended  scholarship,  he 
was  well  constituted  to  inspire  the  young  ladies  intrusted  to  his 
charge  with  a  thirst  for  knowledge.  By  making  instruction 
pleasant  he  sought  not  only  to  develop  and  regulate  their  facul- 
ties, but  to  fix  tenaciously  in  their  memories  what  it  was  good 
for  them  to  know.  He  took  especial  pains  to  render  his 
school-rooms  cheerful  and  attractive,  and  his  cordial  and  sym- 
pathetic disposition,  while  ever  chastened  by  his  high  sense  of 
obligation  and  the  importance  of  maintaining  his  authority,  in- 
spired friendship  and  confidence. 

His   varied  accomplishments    in   letters  eminently  fitted  him 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON   WARREN.  133 

for  his  task.  Besides  being  well  grounded  in  the  classics  he 
spoke  French,  Spanish,  and  Italian.  He  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  masterpieces  of  those  languages,  and  was  in  the  habit 
of  reading  weekly,  up  to  the  day  of  his  death,  his  Hebrew  Bible 
and  the  Greek  Testament.  If  the  instruction  of  Harvard  was 
not  so  universal  as  now,  many  branches  of  knowledge,  such  as 
metaphysics  and  mathematics,  were  then  less  abstruse  and 
remote.  What  was  needed  for  the  general  purposes  of  life  was 
more  simply  inculcated  and  better  understood,  for  it  was  less 
entangled  with  subtle  distinctions  and  puzzling  limitations.  If 
dialectics  are  more  scientific,  the  more  certain  knowledge  de- 
rived from  intuition  and  observation  as  taught  by  Locke,  by 
Stuart,  Reed,  and  Browne,  whose  works  we  then  studied,  of  the 
operations  of  the  human  mind  and  our  moral  and  emotional 
nature,  was  quite  as  valuable  as  our  present  doubts. 

This  pleasant  relation  of  instructor  to  the  best  and  brightest 
of  the  choicest  circles  of  New  Bedford,  opened  wide  to  him  the 
gates  of  its  society,  one  eminently  refined  and  cultivated.  He 
became  a  great  favorite  with  those  most  eminent  in  professional 
walks.  Many  already  known  over  the  land,  or  who  have  since 
become  distinguished,  were  among  his  intimate  associates.  It 
is  sufficient  to  mention  the  Hon.  Thomas  Dawes  Eliot,  Governor 
John  H.  Clifford,  Judge  Oliver  Prescott,  Benjamin  Rotch,  and 
Benjamin  Lindsay.  Their  very  names  explain  why  his  resi- 
dence in  this  beautiful  city  of  gardens  he  ever  afterwards  re- 
membered as  one  of  the  happiest  periods  of  his  life. 

His  correspondence  even  from  the  time  he  entered  college 
and  down  to  this  period,  when  he  had  reached  his  majority, 
shows  how  desirous  he  was  of  passing  his  life  in  the  pursuits  of 
literature  and  of  becoming  an  author  or  professor.  While  at 
New  Bedford  he  was  tendered  the  position  of  tutor  at  Amherst 
College,  which  he  declined,  and  afterwards,  when  he  was  offered 
a  similar  position  at  Harvard,  his  father  would  not  let  him 
accept  it.  He  delivered  a  lecture  before  the  Lyceum  of  New 
Bedford,  and  wrote  an  ode  for  the  Fourth  of  July  of  the  same 
year,  which  was  afterward  set  to  music  and  sung  in  Boston  on 
a  similar  occasion  (1881),  when  he  was  the  orator. 

His  father  had  watched   tenderly  over  his  progress,  and  by 


134  IN  MEMORIAM. 

his  constant  letters  from  his  early  childhood  to  one  of  his 
latest  from  his  death-bed  manifested  his  profound  affection. 
These  letters,  and  those  of  his  son  in  reply  to  them,  were  relig- 
iously preserved  and  read  over  again  when  he  had  his  own 
children  to  direct  in  the  ways  of  wisdom  and  discretion.  They 
would  occupy  too  large  a  space  for  this  memoir.  When,  as 
intended,  they  are  made  accessible  in  print,  the  happy  influence 
they  exerted  in  forming  the  character  of  the  son  will  be  recog- 
nized. His  father  died  at  Charlestown,  March  19,  1834,  at  the 
ripe  age  of  seventy-six,  as  George  was  reaching  his  majority. 

Thus  cast  upon  his  own  resources,  with  a  slender  patrimony, 
George  decided  to  adopt  the  law  for  his  profession,  and  came 
to  it  with  a  training  and  ability,  matured  in  other  pursuits,  that 
ensured  a  successful  career.  He  entered  the  office  of  Mr. 
Benjamin  Rand  and  Augustus  H.  Fiske,  his  cousin,  at  the 
corner  of  Court  and  Washington  streets,  in  Boston.  Mr.  Rand 
ranked  among  the  most  learned  of  the  Suffolk  bar.  In  several 
departments  of  the  law  he  was  preeminent,  and  from  his  famili- 
arity with  that  of  insurance  had  been  retained  with  Mr.  William 
Wirt,  who  had  come  on  from  Baltimore  for  the  purpose,  against 
Mr.  Webster  in  the  well-known  case  of  Tuttle  Hubbard  and 
Brooks,  tried  in  the  old  Court-house,  afterwards  the  City  Hall, 
which  stood  on  the  site  of  the  present.  His  ability  and  learn- 
ing displayed  in  the  case  were  so  conspicuous  that  he  sprang  at 
once  from  comparative  obscurity  to  an  elevated  position  in  his 
profession.  Fees  flowed  in  from  cases  in  which  large  sums  were 
at  stake,  and  with  Mr.  Fiske,  a  most  successful  practitioner,  for 
his  partner,  though  the  two  were  very  differently  constituted, 
they  amassed  each  a  handsome  fortune.  Mr.  Rand  when  in 
London  was  made  much  of  by  the  judges  and  lawyers,  hon- 
ored and  feasted,  for  they  realized  his  worth  even  better  than 
his   own  legal  brotherhood. 

He  possessed  one  of  the  best  law  libraries  in  Boston.  Its 
well-stocked  shelves  lining  his  chambers  on  two  floors,  con- 
nected by  an  iron  circular  stair,  were  an  education.  Their 
precious  stores  of  legal  learning,  their  possessor,  of  whose  heart 
they  were  almost  the  exclusive  object  of  affection  and  pride, 
had  for  years   been  absorbing,  till  he  cared  little  for  aught  else. 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON    WARREN.  135 

He  was  too  honest  to  neglect  the  obligation  assumed  in  taking 
pupils,  and,  generally  shy  and  taciturn  in  general  conversation, 
he  was  all  the  more  ready  to  communicate  his  treasures  when 
prompted  by  the  sense  of  duty,  and  his  students  were  interested 
and  sensible.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  how  valuable  these  lessons 
must  have  proved,  for  Warren,  during  his  long  period  of  prac- 
tice at  the  bar  or  later  when  seated  on  the  bench.  Nor  had 
he  less  happily  selected  the  office  for  the  details  of  professional 
practice.  Its  docket  was  large  and  varied.  Mr.  Fiske,  his 
cousin,  the  partner  of  Mr.  Rand,  stood  among  the  first  in  office 
routine  and  management  of  cases  in  court,  and  left  him  little  to 
learn  from  his  own  stumbles. 

Attachment  to  Harvard,  that  prompted  its  choice  for  his  alma 
mater,  did   not  abate  as  he  advanced  in  years.      He  was  a  con- 
stant attendant  at  commencements,  and  at  class-meetings  helped 
to  keep  alive  and  fervid  the  good-fellowship  that  subsisted.    All 
of  us  remember  that  pleasant  gathering  seven  years  ago  at  his 
own  house  on  Marlboro' street,  when  most  of  our  survivors  were 
clustered  round  the  hospitable  banquet  he  had  prepared  for  us. 
Late   into   the  summer   night  we  discoursed  college   days  and 
incidents,  renewed  our  youth  in  their  pleasant  memories.     We 
have  had   other  meetings   that  were  memorable.      If  more  are 
vouchsafed    in   the  somewhat   precarious  future  for  some  of  us 
our  host  on  that  occasion  will  never  be  forgotten. 
^  One  year  before  our  classmate  entered  the  bar  he  studied  at 
Cambridge  in  the  then   new  law  school,  of  which  Justice  Story 
and   Mr.   Greenleaf  were   professors   and   Charles    Sumner,    his 
classmate,  a   tutor    and    librarian.     No   examination   was   then 
required,  and,  after  the  period  specified  for  his  preparation,  the 
training  was  completed,  he  took  his  oaths  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar.     He  opened  a  law  office  in  Charlestown,  was  engaged 
in    a   number   of   important   causes    in    Middlesex  county,  and 
subsequently,  with  Mr.  George  Farrar,  as  Warren  &  Farrar,  had 
a  large  practice. 

He  had  been  married  April  30,  1835,  by  Rev.  Joseph  Ben- 
nett, of  Woburn,  to  Lucy  Rogers  Newell,  a  daughter  of  Dr. 
Jonathan  Newell,  of  Stowe,  who  had  been  his  schoolmate  in  the 
academy  of  that  place.     She  was  a  granddaughter  of  a  distin- 


136  IN  MEMORIAM. 

guished  divine  of  the  same  name,  who  held  liberal  views  of 
theology,  and  a  descendant  of  the  martyr,  John  Rogers.  She 
was  born  August  15,  18 13,  and  consequently  was  but  four 
months  younger  than  himself.  Their  union  soon  ended  in 
her  death,  Sept.  4,  1840.  The  only  child  of  this  marriage  was 
Gen.  Lucius  H.  Warren,  born  Oct.  6,  1838,  who  served  during 
our  civil  war  with  great  honor,  and  who  now  resides  in  Phila- 
delphia practising  law. 

George  did  not  remain  long  a  widower,  for  on  the  first  of 
June  of  the  succeeding  year  he  was  married  by  Rev.  George  E. 
Ellis,  D.D.,  to  Georgiana  Thompson,  daughter  of  Joseph  and 
Susan  Pratt  Thompson,  of  Charlestown,  who  survives  him. 
Her  mother  was  the  daughter  of  Capt.  John  Pratt,  an  eminent 
merchant  of  Boston.  Thus  happy  in  his  home  and  his  social 
connections,  generally  beloved  and  esteemed  in  the  community 
around  him,  his  practice  rapidly  extended,  and  at  the  same  time 
tokens  of  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  ability  and  character 
followed  in  rapid  succession.  On  April  14,  1837,  he  had  been 
appointed  Justice  of  the  Peace,  and  Jan.  6,  1840,  Master  in 
Chancery. 

In  1844  and  1845  ne  served  in  the  Legislature,  and  was  the 
Whig  candidate  for  Congress  in  1845.  He  was  instrumental  in 
obtaining  the  city  charter  for  Charlestown,  and  was  elected  first 
mayor  under  it  in  1847,  an<^  reelected  for  three  additional  terms. 
When  elected  mayor  he  was  but  thirty-four,  and  younger  than 
any  other  member  of  the  City  Council.  Untiring  in  his  atten- 
tion to  the  improvements  of  the  city,  and  particularly  of  the 
public  schools,  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  building  of  new 
school-houses,  as  also  in  the  establishment  of  the  High  School. 
He  delivered  the  address  at  laying  the  corner-stone  of  the  latter 
institution  in  September,  1847. 

Elected  to  the  Senate  in  1853  and  1854,  and  chairman  of  the 
Judiciary  Committee,  he  was  the  author  of  the  bill  to  separate 
the  government  of  Harvard  College  from  that  of  the  State, 
which  passed  the  Senate  in  1854,  but  failed  in  the  House.  It 
subsequently  became  a  law  with  immaterial  amendments. 
This  act  took  the  election  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  out  of  the 
control  of  the    Legislature   and   placed   it  in   the  hands  of  the 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON   WARREN.  137 

alumni  of  three  years'  standing.  He  carried  through  the  Legis- 
lature the  bill  for  the  annexation  of  Charlestown  to  Boston, 
which  was  accepted  by  the  vote  of  the  citizens  of  both  cities  in 
October,  1854,  but  was  set  aside  by  the  Supreme  Court.  He 
subsequently  agitated  the  question  until  it  was  finally  accom- 
plished in  1872. 

In  his  political  faith  and  affiliation  he  was  steadfastly  con- 
servative. In  1844  he  was  sent  delegate  as  a  Webster  Whig  to 
the  convention  in  Philadelphia  which  nominated  Henry  Clay 
for  the  presidency  when  Polk  was  elected.  In  June,  1852, 
again  delegate  to  the  convention  at  Baltimore,  he  labored  with 
Rufus  Choate  for  the  nomination  of  Webster.  Scott  was  the 
successful  candidate  of  the  convention,  and  Pierce  was  chosen 
President.  In  1856  he  was  sent  to  the  convention  at  the  same 
place,  where  Fillmore  was  nominated  by  the  Whigs,  Fremont 
by  the  Republicans,  and  when  Buchanan  was  elected  by  the 
Democrats.  He  soon  after  withdrew  from  politics,  and  spent  a 
year  in  Europe.  Upon  his  return  from  abroad  he  opened  his 
law  office   in  Boston,  and  soon  had  his  share  of  clients. 

Still  hoping  that  the  country  might  be  saved  from  the  civil 
war  impending,  he  did  what  he  could  with  lip  and  pen  to  soothe 
the  angry  spirit  of  animosity  that  raged  between  the  sections. 
This  was  not  then  the  popular  side  in  Boston,  though  many  of 
the  more  sensible,  who  knew  what  civil  war  signified,  and  how 
great  might  be  its  wreck,  preferred  to  join  the  Democrats  than 
be  faithless  to  the  obligations  of  the  Constitution.  In  that 
momentous  election  of  i860,  when  Lincoln  was  chosen,  Warren 
cast  his  vote  for  Breckenridge.  When  the  South  took  up  arms 
he  rallied  to  the  support  of  the  government,  and  voted  with 
the  Republicans.  He  was  at  this  time  the  candidate  on  that 
ticket  for  Attorney-General  of  the  State. 

Although  many  of  the  great  luminaries  that  had  shed  lustre 
on  the  Suffolk  bar  and  attained  historical  importance  had  dis- 
appeared from  view  or  shone  in  other  spheres,  enough  remained 
for  emulation.  But  with  his  studious  tastes,  and  other  aptitudes 
for  the  bench,  his  selection,  April  12,  1862,  for  the  position  of 
Judge  of  the  Municipal  Court  of  Charlestown,  with  its  varied 
jurisdiction,    civil  and   criminal,  was  eminently   fortunate.      His 


138  IN  MEMORIAM. 

long  experience  at  the  bar,  his  familiar  acquaintance  with  the 
people  under  his  jurisdiction,  his  amiable  and  cheerful  disposi- 
tion, his  courteous  and  dignified  deportment  to  all,  his  conscien- 
tiousness, his  quick  intuitions  and  insight  into  motive,  his  free- 
dom from  prejudice,  his  readiness  in  the  application  of  rules 
and  principles,  his  firmness,  patience,  and  impartiality,  well 
fitted  him  for  that  bench  or  any  other,  and  for  twenty-one  years 
that  he  held  the  office  he  gave  no  reason  to  complain  to 
counsel,  the   public,  or  even   to   a  disappointed  suitor. 

If  somewhat  mysterious  in  their  ways  to  the  uninitiated, 
Freemasonry,  judged  by  the  character  of  its  members,  has 
every  claim  to  respect  and  confidence.  Judge  Warren,  Oct.  9, 
1843,  had  been  made  a  Mason  in  King  Solomon's  Lodge,  which 
had  buried  Gen.  Joseph  Warren,  killed  at  Bunker  Hill  in  1775. 
He  took  the  Knight  Templar's  and  Thirty-third  degree,  and  be- 
came a  member  of  the  De  Molay  Encampment.  Through  his 
exertions  the  Henry  Price  Lodge  was  established  in  1858.  Of 
this  he  was  the  first  Master  for  two  years,  and  in  1861  was 
Deputy  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  and  during  the 
absence  of  the  Grand  Master  at  the  South  filled  his  place. 

He  had  been  a  Director  of  the  Bunker  Hill  Association  from 
1836  to  1839,  and  its  Secretary  from  1839  to  1847.  June  24, 
1845,  ne  delivered  the  Masonic  address,  upon  the  monument 
grounds,  upon  the  occasion  of  placing  the  model  of  the  origi- 
nal monument,  erected  by  King  Solomon's  Lodge  in  memory  of 
Joseph  Warren  seventy  years  before,  inside  the  present  noble 
obelisk.  In  1847  he  was  chosen  President,  and  continued  by 
annual  elections  to  1875  for  twenty-eight  years,  and  then  again 
chosen  Director,  he  remained  till  his  decease  in  1883,  seven 
years  longer. 

If  not  a  descendant,  or  even  near  relation,  of  the  great 
proto-martyr  whose  name  he  bore,  he  had  his  hereditary  in- 
terest in  the  strike  for  independence.  His  father  was  a  soldier 
of  the  Revolution,  though  not  at  Bunker  Hill.  There  is  now  in 
the  possession  of  his  grandson,  Gen.  Lucius  H.  Warren,  a  piece 
of  blue  ribbon  enclosed  in  a  letter,  which  reads  as  follows : 
"  Fifty  years  after  the  memorable  battle  of  Lexington,  at  the 
anniversary  at  Concord,  this  ribbon  was  worn  as  a  badge  of  dis- 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON   WARREN.  139 

tinction  by  those  who  were  under  arms  and  fought  in  defence 
of  their  country  against  the  British  troops  on  that  eventful  day. 
This  is  to  be  kept  by  my  son  or  grandson  so  long  as  there  is 
one  left  of  my  heirs."  This  letter  is  addressed  to  George  Wash- 
ington Warren  or  Isaac  Henry  Warren. 

Ever  foremost  in  advocating  improvements  for  his  native  city 
he  was  the  originator  of  the  Charlestown  Gas  Company,  and  its 
first  President.  Its  establishment  met  with  great  opposition 
from  the  large  majority  of  the  citizens  who  considered  that  the 
introduction  of  gas  would  be  a  great  injury.  He  was  one  of  the 
fathers  and  directors  of  the  Charlestown  Branch  Railroad  Com- 
pany, now  the  Fitchburg,  and  also  of  the  Lexington  and  West 
Cambridge. 

The  Christian  principles  inculcated  by  his  father  grew  with 
his  growth,  and  though  unable  to  accept  the  extreme  view  of 
the  Orthodox,  in  the  Harvard  Church  at  Charlestown,  under 
the  ministry  of  Dr.  James  Walker,  the  President  of  Harvard, 
later  of  Dr.  George  E.  Ellis,  he  displayed  throughout  his  life 
the  benign  influence  of  his  faith  in  his  walk  and  conversation. 
When  he  removed  to  the  Back  Bay  he  became  a  prominent 
member  of  the  First  Church,  under  Dr.  Rufus  E.  Ellis,  who 
preached  his  funeral  discourse.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
Unitarian  Conference  from    its  first  meeting. 

His  interest  in  the  history  of  his  own  country  never  flagged. 
At  the  meetings  of  the  New  England  Historical  and  Genea- 
logical Society,  and  of  the  Bostonian,  established  to  preserve 
and  care  for  the  Old  State-House,  he  was  a  most  constant 
attendant,  and  often  spoke.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Royal 
Historical  Society  of  London,  a  delegate  to  the  Peace  Confer- 
ence at  Liverpool  in  1882.  Among  other  numerous  societies 
of  which  he  was  a  member  may  be  mentioned  the  Woman's 
Club,  the  Suffolk  Bar  Association,  and  the  Thursday  Evening 
or  Warren  Club,  of  which  President  Wm.  B.  Rogers  was  Presi- 
dent, to  the  literary  entertainment  of  which  he  often  contributed 
in  prose  and  verse.  In  these  and  in  all  other  social  relations  he 
was  loved  and  valued.  He  was  the  intimate  friend  of  Edward 
Everett,  of  Rufus  Choate,  and  Daniel  Webster,  and  at  the 
request  of  Mr.  Webster  prepared  that  part  of  his  Life,  which 


140  IN  MEMORIAM. 

relates  to  his  addresses    in  laying  the  corner-stone  and    com- 
pletion of  the  Bunker  Hill   Monument. 

His  busy  pen  left  much  that  will  be  always  precious  to  those 
who  knew  him  as  well  as  to  the  general  public.  His  published 
works,  his  correspondence,  and  what  can  be  rescued  from  the 
oblivion  of  the  past,  it  is  proposed  to  collect  with  a  more 
minute  detail  of  his  busy  life.  Such  a  life,  honored  and  useful, 
crowded  with  incident,  has  much  to  record  full  of  instructions 
and  for  example  to  other  generations.  It  certainly  will  be  of 
peculiar  interest  to  his  surviving  classmates,  who  knew  him  so 
well. 

We  should  leave  incomplete  a  singularly  well-poised  charac- 
ter if  we  omitted  to  refer  to  what  has  been  so  often  remarked 
and  expressed  by  those  who  knew  him  the  best,  —  his  amiable 
qualities.  Frank  and  generous  by  nature  and  discipline,  he 
carried  alike  into  work  and  recreation  their  cheer  and  their 
charm.  In  the  intercourse  of  public  affairs,  in  the  discharge  of 
judicial  functions,  in  his  cheerful  equanimity  at  home  and  in 
social  companionship,  his  vigor,  animation,  and  magnetic  sym- 
pathies, engendered  affection.  Whatever  his  sound  judgment 
indicated  as  best,  without  self-assertion  he  took  the  lead.  On 
the  bench  his  dignified  amenity  conciliated  confidence,  inspired 
deference  to  authority,  held  waywardness  in  check.  Parties, 
counsel,  and  witnesses,  assured  of  his  utter  freedom  from  preju- 
dice, his  conscientious  regard  for  their  rights,  held  in  higher 
veneration  the  judgment-seat.  The  litigation  that  came  to  his 
tribunal,  if  not  involving  the  largest  amounts  in  value,  came 
home  to  the  daily  concerns  of  the  people.  It  often  excited 
animosities  and  ruffled  the  temper.  He  was  happily  consti- 
tuted to  calm  the  troubled  spirits  and  reconcile  disputes. 

From  the  time  we  left  Harvard,  throughout  his  busy  career, 
he  was  for  many  of  us  the  constant  friend  and  frequent  com- 
panion. All  who  shared  his  daily  walks  or  watched  his  prog- 
ress from  distances  more  remote  with  less  opportunity  of 
meeting,  bear  witness  to  the  firm  and  uninterrupted,  hold  he 
kept  on  their  regard.  Higher  office  fell  to  the  lot  of  some  of 
his  classmates  on  broader  theatres  of  action  than  his  own. 
Sumner  in  the   Federal  Senate  gained  a  world-wide  renown  in 


GEORGE    WASHINGTON   WARREN.  141 

stirring  days  affecting  the  destiny  of  the  nation.  Kerr  repre- 
sented his  country  at  a  foreign  court,  sat  in  the  Federal 
Congress.  There,  too,  Potter,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court 
of  his  State,  and  Worcester,  son  of  the  great  lexicographer, 
took  their  part  in  the  national  councils  which  others  of 
the  class,  as  probably  Judge  Warren  himself,  could  have 
shared  had  their  other  obligations  permitted.  Fifteen  of 
his  class  gained  various  distinction  on  the  bench  or  at  the 
bar,  nine  in  the  pulpit,  five  in  the  art  of  healing.  Several  by 
their  productions  added  works  of  value  to  the  national  liter- 
ature. All  who  retained  their  health  showed  the  influence  of 
Harvard,  the  mettle  of  their  pasture,  by  their  achievements 
and  example,  their  character  and  usefulness,  and  they  all 
loved  Warren.  He  too  left  his  trace  in  many  official 
trusts,  and  in  his  many  publications,  one  of  which,  the  his- 
tory of  the  great  monument  at  Bunker  Hill,  as  the  record 
of  its  erection  and  the  interpretation  of  all  it  commem- 
orates, will  be  perennial  as  the  obelisk  itself.  His  pen  was 
ever  busy,  and  he  wrote  much  else  in  verse  and  prose.  With 
his  natural  endowments  and  scholarly  attainments,  the  in- 
cidents of  his  life  we  have  so  imperfectly  related,  with  the  noble 
traits  that  composed  his  honorable,  generous,  and  estimable 
character,  one  teres  rotundus  without  flaw  or  blemish,  he  needed 
none  of  the  factitious  distinctions  of  rank  or  special  monument 
for  his  memory  to  be  cherished.  Not  only  by  us,  his  friends 
and  associates  at  Cambridge  and  in  the  community  to  which  he 
made  himself  in  so  many  ways  useful,  will  he  long  be  held 
in  remembrance ;  but  as  an  example  and  encouragement  to 
coming  generations,  who  look  to  him  as  their  progenitor,  or  are 
bound  to  him  in  consanguinity,  or  for  other  reasons  bear  him 
in  mind,  will  what  we,  who  knew  him  best,  have  to  say  of 
him,  be  well  to  have  recorded.  We  have  not  dwelt  upon  the 
sorrows  inevitable  to  human  life.  Perhaps  when  we  meet,  as 
we  may,  in  other  realms  of  being,  we  shall  learn  how  unflinch- 
ingly he  bore  his  cross,  at  times  even  for  him  a  heavy  one,  up 
the  flinty  steps  of  Calvary.  We  shall  more  clearly  perceive 
that  to  his  share  of  the  common  lot  was  in  some  measure 
owing  the  worth  that  embalmed  his  memory  for  them  and 
for   us. 


142  IN  MEMORIAM. 

Some  few  of  us  stood  around  his  open  sepulchre  ten  months 
ago  at  Mount  Auburn,  when  his  coffin  stood  open  to  the  blue 
and  cloudless  skies  of  that  May  afternoon,  that  we  might  take  a 
parting  look  of  his  genial  face  before  his  remains  were  laid 
within  the  ground  beside  his  kinsfolks.  When  we  remembered 
how  well  through  trial  and  temptation  he  had  walked  on  with 
his  sturdy  step,  blameless  to  the  end,  we  could  understand  how 
well  life  was  worth  the  living,  for  one  who  had  tried  so  hard  and 
so  well  succeeded  in  accomplishing  the  tasks  set  him  by  Provi- 
dence to  do,  and  who  thus  made  the  best  of  his  mortal  exist- 
ence in  the  sight  of  man  and  God. 


ROBERT   WILLIAM    HOOPER. 
18 10—1885. 


BY    HIS    SON,    EDWARD   W.    HOOPER,    OF   CAMBRIDGE. 


ROBERT  WILLIAM  HOOPER  was  born  in  Marblehead, 
Mass.,  on  October  25,  1810.  He  was  the  son  of  John 
and  Eunice  Hooper.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  the 
class  of  1830.  In  1833  he  went  to  Europe;  and,  after  studying 
medicine  in  Paris  and  elsewhere,  and  travelling  over  a  large  part 
of  Europe,  he  came  back  to  America  in  1835,  took  his  degree 
of  M.D.  from  Harvard  College  in  1836,  and  soon  after  began 
the  practice  of  his  profession  in  Boston.  On  September  25, 
1837,  he  was  married  to  Ellen  Sturgis,  the  eldest  daughter  of 
William  Sturgis,  merchant,  of  Boston.  On  November  3,  1848, 
his  wife  died,  leaving  three  children,  all  of  whom  survived  their 
father.  For  nearly  fifty  years,  until  his  death  on  April  13,  1885, 
which  occurred  at  the  house  of  his  son-in-law  Professor  Gurney, 
at  Cambridge,  Dr.  Hooper  devoted  himself  to  his  family  and 
friends,  and  to  the  various  public  institutions  with  which  he  was 
connected.  He  was  for  many  years  one  of  the  surgeons  of  the 
Massachusetts  Charitable  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary,  and  its 
records  show  that  he  had  "  for  more  than  a  generation  been 
connected  with  its  development  and  watched  over  its  interests." 
For  thirty  years  he  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Boston 
Athenaeum,  and  his  associates  say  that  "he  has  worked  himself, 
he  has  interested  others  and  made  them  work,  and  he  has  done 
more  than  anyone  else  to  build  up  the  library,  increase  its  value, 
and  extend  its  usefulness."  For  twenty-seven  years  he  gave 
much   of   his  time  to  the  care  of   the  State    Hospital    for  the 


144  IN  MEMORIAM. 

Insane  at  Worcester,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee.  His  private 
practice  never  yielded  him  a  considerable  income ;  but  he  had, 
by  inheritance  and  by  prudent  management,  an  income  sufficient, 
and  in  his  later  years  more  than  sufficient,  for  his  always  mod- 
erate wants.  His  religious  feelings  were  strong  and  constant; 
but  he  rarely  expressed  them  otherwise  than  by  his  personal 
character  and  conduct. 


THE  Class   of   1830  graduated  with  forty-eight  members,  of 
whom,  in  1886,  survive, — 


Thomas  Coffin  Amory, 
Charles  Dawes  Appleton, 
Nathaniel  Austin, 
Jonathan  Wheeler  Bemis, 
James  Dana, 

Robert  Hallowell  Gardiner, 
Nathan  Watson  Munroe, 
John  Osborne  Sargent, 
Jonathan  French  Stearns, 
Charlemagne  Tower, 


Boston. 

Washington. 

Worcester. 

Cambridge. 

Boston. 

Gardiner,  Me. 

Greenfield,  Mass. 

New  York  and  Lenox. 

Newark. 

Philadelphia. 


Amory,  Austin,  Dana,  Gardiner,  Sargent,  and  Tower  chose 
the  profession  of  law;  Bemis,  that  of  medicine;  Munroe  and 
Stearns,  that  of  theology.  For  a  series  of  years  Appleton 
has  been  connected  with  the  U.S.  Treasury  Department,  Wash- 
ington. 

William  S.  Whitwell,  of  Brookline,  was  a  member  of  the  class 
as  "  University  student,"  leaving,  before  it  graduated,  to  pursue 
civil  engineering.  He  is  honorary  member,  his  classmates  wel- 
coming him  to  their  social  and  other  meetings. 


V 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


AA    001  196  315    4 


